The EVM has been the most popular blockchain operating system since Ethereum launched almost a decade ago. However, few developers love developing with its native programming language, Solidity; some even compare the experience to “chewing glass.” Nevertheless, entrepreneurs choose it because it facilitates access to Ethereum’s users, assets, and liquidity. But if we want to have 10x the number of onchain applications, we must have 100x the number of developers able to build them. To do that, we have to make it much easier for the average programmer to write sophisticated smart contracts while increasing the security and scalability properties of the underlying infrastructure. That’s the central promise behind the Move programming language and the emerging ecosystem of networks that employ it.
Read moreSaga: Open Blockspace for the Multiverse
Saga’s virtual blockchains are called Chainlets, and Chainlets are designed to be dedicated to single applications, though they could host multiple applications if preferred. Each Chainlet is a fully decentralized, proof-of-stake chain with all the properties of a L1, except the requirement for a native staking token. Current throughput of each Chainlet is 6.8 million transactions/day, or ~80 transactions/second (TPS). If an application needs more throughput, additional Chainlets are spun up to accommodate the surge in demand, allowing for elastic scaling that grows infinitely with the application’s performance needs.
Read moreOnchain Finance is Thriving; What’s Next?
Decentralized public blockchain networks have existed for ~15 years with the associated cryptoassets currently going through their fourth major market cycle. Throughout these years, and especially since the launch of Ethereum in 2015, considerable time and resources have been spent theorizing about and developing applications on top of these networks. While progress has been impressive in the context of financial use cases, other types of applications have struggled, mainly due to the complexity of delivering scalable and seamless user experiences within the constraints imposed by decentralization, as well as fragmentation across different ecosystems and standards. However, recent technological advancements, both within and outside the blockchain industry, have made a broader range of applications not only more feasible, but also more necessary than ever.
Read moreIntroducing Gurnoor Singh Narula
At Placeholder, I hope to relate the blockchain revolution to historical technological trends as I explore how the methods of past technological evolutions are mirrored (and can be utilized) within this cycle. More specifically, I’ll be focusing my research interests on exploring the Institutional DeFi stack, the development of on-chain treasuries, and the modular vs. monolithic debate. I’ll also start tackling the intersection of game-theoretic auction design, consensus, and MEV, while researching LVR mitigation and methods that increase LP profitability, especially with the imminent launch of Uniswap v4. On top of all of this interesting work, I’ll keep in touch with my engineering roots as I explore zk-enabled tech (everything from zkVMs to zkApps, and more) as applied research and applications catch up to the theoretical use cases being explored.
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