The Telegram company, which was so much under the microscope a few months ago in a controversial token sale, is now unveiling its new consensus mechanism that represents a trailblazing byzantine fault-tolerant proof of stake solution.
This algorithm, called Catchain, works to verify the blockchain as long as one third of nodes are identified as reliable or in the words of Telegram spokespersons, “not malicious.” The new protocol has been covered at Cointelegraph today, but hardly anywhere else: instead, publications all over the globe are “retweeting” the original piece to drive awareness of Telegram’s Catchain.
By contrast, various types of Ethereum smart contracts and other methodologies have to use methods like fork resolution to verify.
With Catchain, creators say, if validators cannot validate a particular block in a given time frame, that block is simply skipped.
Criticisms of the platform include concerns that there are not an abundant variety of common uses for the Gram tokens that were targeted by the SEC as unlawfully sold unregistered securities.
The burden is on Telegram to produce reports of past financial records to satisfy regulators and everyone else as they move forward with new algorithm innovations that could improve transactions in tomorrow’s banking world.
Early adopters are enthusiastic, arguing that a system of validators, fishermen nodes, and collators in Telegram’s TON network facilitates robust verifications
“On the test network, the blockchain elects validators based on available funds on their balance for a period of 4,000 seconds (~1 hour),” wrote one proponent at DeCenter last September, describing the TON system. “Two thousand seconds (~30 minutes) before the end of the validation period, new elections begin; they end 500 seconds (~8 minutes) before the end of the first period, after which the second period begins. Such a system gives new validators an opportunity to “get in.” Validator funds from the first period are returned after an additional 1,000 seconds (~15 minutes) along with the reward. On the main network, 100 validator slots are planned in each period. This would allow a higher number of independent teams to take part in the validation process while a well thought out election system will eliminate the possibility of centralization of power in the hands of ‘whales.’”
Will Telegram successfully rise through its current challenges to become a big player in crypto? Stay tuned.
