Waterfall

The major attraction always has been the promise that DLT can attach characteristics of optimization—security, traceability, and transparency—to speedier transaction settlement without middlemen. However, a major sticking point for all distributed systems is that they are inherently not very scalable, thus forcing an adopter to make some compromise on total decentralization.Waterfall: A ledger character smart contract platform based on Directed Acyclic Graph technology, used for developing high-performance ecosystems of DApps.Waterfall solves the trilemma of scalability, security, and decentralization by massively scaling, rivaling, or outpacing traditional, centralized platforms like VISA. Take a look at the Waterfall Project and this unique DAG technology that would achieve what is described as the Blockchain Trilemma, hence enabling DLT to be decentralized for many applications today and in the future.<h3 id="key-points">Key Points</h3>- The popular trilemma of scalability, security, and decentralization in distributed systems essentially collapses to a very simple trade-off between scalability and decentralization.- Most use cases across many domains, such as DeFI, DePIN, IoT, and Enterprise, have identified the scaling and decentralization. Inhibition toward mass adoption of DLT is the only intrinsic trade-off between them.- The consensus of Waterfall is a distributed protocol that solves the Blockchain Trilemma through a hybridization of DAG technology and proof-of-stake. Waterfall Smart Contact Platform creates an effective and friendly ecosystem for the development of various DApps. Its merits include high performance, low transaction fees, a low threshold of entry, low demands on hardware, pervasiveness of standards, embedded tokens, sub-networks, dynamic adjustment, etc. Today, unlimited sharding is being actively developed. A fractal network structure will allow an unlimited number of heterogeneous shards to exist.<h3 id="real-world-issues">Real-world issues</h3>Distributed ledgers offer absolute security and transparency in transactions, thereby removing the need for intermediaries like banks and government agencies. Since this is quite a new technology, many matters related to DLT are yet to be sorted out. The main challenges are in scalability because the current generation of DLTs is only capable of handling a very limited number of transactions per second without compromising security, and/or with increased overall network centralization, better described as a trilemma of scalability, security, and decentralization.So in the case of a peer paper, it&#39;s Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum and the currently most decentralized smart contract platform, who coined this phrase—that of the three chief features of DLT, a distributed system may have only two. Usually, it reduces to a scale-decentralization tradeoff for the very reason that security in fintech is non-negotiable. He has clearly laid out all the pros and cons in his &#34;Endgame&#34; article, summarized as follows:- The distributed systems can&#39;t be scalable and decentralized at the same time, and that&#39;s totally okay.- The problem worrying the developers of Ethereum, as well as other users, is that the current maximum throughput barely rises above two dozen transactions per second, whereas central systems can boast values in the thousands—for example, VISA passed almost 7,000 TPS on average in 2023. And should need be, this value should be able to be increased several times.So, how do we transcend these limitations? There are several ways, and currently, two of the most in vogue have been sharding and Layer 2s, or L2s for short. Sharding is a way used to break down a distributed system into too many smaller and leaner systems so more transactions can be handled. Layer 2 pertains to any network or technology running on top of an underlying protocol, enhancing its scalability and efficiency, thus making the overall system scale and become decentralized. But in splitting the whole into parts, its components suffer from the same decentralization versus scalability tradeoff. In essence, shard chains are distributed systems. L2s too are mostly distributed systems that achieve scalability at the cost of giving up on decentralization.Though DLT is gaining wide popularity these days, in light of scalability, new solutions should be sought and further fine-tuned with already existing ones. At present, scaling up with an aim of increased security and decentralization is usually the key driver to make a mass-level adoption happen, especially in enterprise sectors.<h3 id="waterfall-platform-overview">Waterfall Platform Overview</h3>Waterfall is a highly scalable smart contract platform for the development of any type of DApp. A distributed protocol based on DAG technology with fast finality PoS consensus by participation of millions of nodes. The implementation of the platform opens the possibility to deploy several autonomous Workers on each Node, as seen in Figure 1, sharing a common ledger and a pool of transactions.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/srd-optimized-uploads/2c2b24ea261e479eb377e451fae9103a.jpg" />Hence, a ledger DAG can allow scalability and decentralization in the whole and parts of the system. Accordingly, we apply DAG on the shard network so that scalability and decentralization can be achieved on each shard of the network and by induction should exist on the whole system and individual parts of the system.That would grant us parallel processing, enabling us to overcome the limitation in EVM and reach far higher levels of scalability. Obviously, scalability is important, but some critics would say: &#34;Nobody cares about decentralization.&#34; If we grant that that is a valid statement, then we can go ahead and ask ourselves: &#34;Why do we care about Web 3.0? Web 2.0 is working just fine!&#34;Bitcoin might also be conceptualized as some type of decentralized accounting system enabled by dynamic, distributed ledger technologies. Decentralization greatly enhances security, given the elimination of all kinds of third-party interventions or manipulations. Comparatively, if a distributed system operates on 20 servers and another operates on 20,000 servers, it will be much more difficult for any central party or parties to control the system in the latter case, provided in both cases each server is operated by different owners.<h3 id="advantages-of-waterfall">Advantages of Waterfall</h3>Waterfall stands out due to its architecture and innovative consensus protocol, offering several key benefits:High Performance: Waterfall utilizes a scalable DAG-based block structure, allowing the simultaneous publication of multiple blocks. This ensures finality for all transactions as long as no blocks conflict, giving Waterfall the capability to handle high transaction volumes, such as those of Visa, MasterCard, and Union Pay, even during peak times. Recent lab tests show Waterfall processing over 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), opening the door to a range of opportunities for DApps that require high-performance networks.Low Transaction Fees: Waterfall&#39;s architecture is designed to minimize transaction fees across various scenarios. As network load increases, the system dynamically scales, publishing more blocks simultaneously and reducing fees in the process. This scalability keeps the transaction pool manageable, even during peak periods. The combination of low fees and high throughput is a significant advantage for DApp developers.Low Entry Threshold &amp; Hardware Requirements: Waterfall maintains low hardware requirements for its validators, with just a CPU of at least 2 cores and 4 GB of RAM. Unlike some high-performance networks that impose higher demands on validators or compromise decentralization, Waterfall ensures a low entry threshold.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/srd-optimized-uploads/53a090d578984b8d903ead051d22de09.jpg" />Preservation of Standards: Waterfall is compatible with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), allowing for seamless migration of Ethereum smart contracts. Simple contracts can be copied directly, while more complex applications may require minimal adjustments. Reverse migration is also supported, reducing risks for new projects.Embedded Tokens: Waterfall simplifies the release and management of tokens, including NFTs, without the need for special smart contracts. This process is handled through ordinary transactions, significantly reducing overhead costs and making tokens more accessible to users.Subnetworks for Scalability: Waterfall&#39;s unique subnetwork technology enables scalability in transaction processing. A hierarchical, graph-based clustering algorithm splits the transaction pool among network validators. While subnetworks parallelize transaction validation and block inclusion, further processing is done by all subnetworks, providing a novel approach to parallel processing at the shard level.Dynamic Adjustment: Waterfall has mechanisms to automatically adjust system parameters based on network demand, such as slot time and the number of workers. These dynamic adjustments ensure self-sustainability throughout the network&#39;s lifecycle, creating a synergistic ecosystem.Waterfall&#39;s architecture and consensus protocol collectively deliver high performance, low costs, accessibility, and scalability for decentralized applications.<h3 id="ongoing-development">Ongoing Development</h3>Our R&amp;D team is actively developing a solution for virtually unlimited sharding. This approach will enable the creation of heterogeneous, dedicated shards tailored for various applications, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), web3 games, e-voting, and electronic medical screening systems. Not only does this reduce the load on network nodes, but it also unlocks new possibilities for intrashard interactions.By leveraging Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) on the coordinating network, we aim to achieve virtually limitless shards, which will provide scalable growth without sacrificing decentralization, both at the system-wide and subsystem levels. Our network&#39;s evolution envisions transforming the coordinating network into a BlockDAG with parallel branches (see Figure 2). Coordination shards will generate these branches, which will intersect during intershard interactions, representing our innovative approach to multi-shard parallel processing.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/srd-optimized-uploads/e007528315de4fb3aac4404bb9800375.jpg" />The Waterfall platform fosters an ideal environment for offering and utilizing a wide range of enterprise-grade services for businesses and social activities, all within a public decentralized network framework.

Waterfall: A Scalable Smart Contract Platform Unlocking New Possibilities

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