Introduction
Security and scalability are the foremost priorities when developing a network. In traditional networks, companies give room for scalability in their infrastructural design in view of increasing demand as the company grows. This can simply be in the form of increasing storage space to improve the efficiency of the network. Scalability and security are easily attained in centralized networks.
Blockchain networks are popular for their decentralized nature. This poses a challenge when developing a blockchain that is fully secure and scalable while maintaining the decentralized framework. The challenge arises from an interplay of contrasting requirements necessary to make a network perfectly secure, scalable, and decentralized.
Blockchain developers have battled this puzzle, captured by Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder and developer, as the blockchain scalability trilemma. This refers to the fact that any attempt to make a blockchain network secure, scalable or decentralized will negatively affect the other two features. This has been a challenge over the years. While the blockchain community is serving the perception that an ideal blockchain is not practical, 5ire is taking a novel approach to crack this puzzle.
Security
As blockchain goes mainstream, sensitive data and information will come live on decentralized networks. Information in this sense includes the government’s budget, plan, military intelligence, and others. The incentives of breaching such a network will inadvertently attract malicious hackers. This calls for an exceptionally high level of security that will confer foolproof immunity to all existing malware and future programs that emerge in the future.
5ire’s security arrangement involves a tripartite arrangement that includes Homomorphic Encryption, Hardware Root of Trust, and Quantum Resistance.
Homomorphic Encryption
This is yet an uncommon approach adopted by 5ire towards processing encrypted data. It is common among other networks to decrypt encrypted data before processing it. With homomorphic encryption, data is processed in its encrypted format.
The properties of a homomorphic encryption scheme ensure that if a computation is performed on encrypted data, it results in a ciphertext that would be equivalent to the ciphertext of a plaintext obtained through performing the same computation on the unencrypted data. Under a homomorphic encryption scheme, the secret decryption key is not required to do any processing on a ciphertext, rather all the computations can be done using the public key.
Hardware Root of Trust
The 5ire ecosystem ensures that all nodes in the blockchain ecosystem establish a certain level of trust. We are introducing a hardware-based root of trust based on Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology. A TPM device will allow the 5ire nodes to remotely attest devices for any malicious code. TPM contains a key pair called an Endorsement Key (EK).
This is burned inside the TPM device at the time of manufacture and even the manufacturer does not know the private key as it is generated inside the TPM device using a random seed. EK cannot be used to directly sign any piece of data, rather it is used to generate another key pair called the attestation key (AK). An AK can be used to sign attestation data inside the TPM device.
This data is stored in platform configuration registers (PCR), which act as applications’ hashes, starting when the node starts and assisting in identifying malicious applications running on a node. 5ireChain will ensure that all the block-assembling nodes participating in the network are running similar applications when they boot.
In a decentralized environment, it is important that all participating nodes agree with the result of a node’s remote attestation, however, to have every node attest to every other participating node would be prohibitively time and resource-consuming. Therefore, 5ireChain nodes will generate a collective challenge nonce to perform node attestation.
Quantum Resistance
Quantum computers have an increased ability to process complex mathematical problems compared to classical computers. The existing cryptographic algorithms are vulnerable to attacks from malicious actors armed with quantum computers. This establishes the need for a quantum-resistant algorithmic protocol.
5ire will introduce quantum-safe, public-key cryptography protocols for digital signatures of transactions and block validations. We will deploy a hybrid digital signature algorithm based on elliptic-curve (existing standard) and lattice-based cryptography (quantum-safe cryptography) to sign the transactions and validate the blocks. This will keep our customer's financial and personal data safe from the advanced cyberattacks of the quantum age.
Scalability
In the face of increasing network demands, a scalable network can seamlessly process transactions with efficient throughput. 5ire uses parallel chains to ease off increased demand on the 5ireChain network.
The need for a scalable network is paramount as blockchain gradually gets adopted and enters mainstream usage. Even a secure network needs seamless throughput to handle transactions on a busy day.
5ire is using parallel chains to ensure that 5ireChain is scalable. In order to support this, 5ireChain allows multiple transaction pools, one for each parallel chain. Whenever the number of transactions in a transaction pool surpasses a threshold, that particular transaction pool is divided into two different pools. This network architecture guarantees throughput in the event of an increased demand on the network without implicating the security protocol.
Decentralization
This is the last piece of the puzzle. 5ire is using a novel protocol in its consensus mechanism to address decentralization.
5ireChain is neither deployed with PoW nor with traditional PoS. The 5ireChain protocol uses a sustainable proof of stake consensus, SPoS, to validate and add new blocks to the chain. SPoS is a multifactor protocol that weighs in sustainable and ESG practices while assigning block assembler roles to nodes. This helps us curtail the cartelization of the network where nodes can create a nexus among each other by nominating or delegating their stake to favorite nodes each time.
Conclusion
The key vision of 5ire is to lead the world from a for-profit to a for-benefit economy by harnessing the power of blockchain technology. 5ireChain is developed from scratch with this vision in mind. The vision is to make the future sustainable. To facilitate the transition to the 5th industrial revolution and create a long-lasting social impact across the globe.
Solving the trilemma is the key to making the vision of 5ire come to reality. With our 5ireChain fully secure, scalable, and decentralized, 5ire is set to elevate the world to a higher pedestal.
More information about 5ireChain can be found by clicking on the following links:
Website: https://5ire.org
White paper: https://bit.ly/3Qcsmor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/5ireChain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5irechain
Discord: http://discord.gg/5ire
Telegram: https://t.me/OfficialFireChain
