Radix (www.radixdlt.com) today announced the launch of the first layer-one protocol for decentralized finance. Radix is made up of four breakthrough technologies: Cerberus, a high-speed network consensus mechanism; Radix Engine, a purpose-built development environment for building DeFi applications; Component Catalog, a library of DeFi building blocks; and Developer Royalties, a first-of-its kind decentralized incentive program. These core technologies were developed to prepare DeFi for mass adoption, and are detailed further in a new White Paper published by Radix.
Traditional financial systems require many layers of intermediation and manual processes, costing an estimated .05% of the global GDP, or or $71 billion annually. While decentralized finance removes the need for intermediaries, today’s DeFi applications are built on blockchain protocols that were not designed to meet the requirements of mainstream adoption.
Radix changes this by introducing a platform with fast, low-cost, secure transactions, a development environment focused on enabling safe and flexible management of user assets, and a smart contract marketplace designed to create a vibrant developer ecosystem.
The Radix Engine is a development environment designed specifically for the creation of logic that defines predictable, correct results on-ledger in response to requests. This form of DLT programmability is based on Finite State Machines, a class of solution that is common in mission-critical embedded systems where predictable correctness is the top priority. To make clear the distinction from typical Ethereum-style smart contracts, Radix Engine smart contracts are called Components.
Building on the Radix Engine’s foundation, the Component Catalog offers a decentralized, on-ledger hub for developers to create, share, extend, and combine modular Components to accelerate Dapp builds. Together, these tools make Radix the most powerful, user-friendly and interoperable platform for DeFi.
A core piece of the Radix solution is its unique consensus algorithm, Cerberus. Cerberus is designed around a unique ‘pre-sharded’ ledger and uses a new consensus process called ‘braiding’ that avoids the limitations on DeFi interoperability created by other scalable consensus designs today. This enables an incredibly flexible protocol that can parallelize an unlimited number of transactions to provide linear scalability. Higher network demand can be served by greater numbers of incentivized node runners, much like adding check-out lanes at a busy grocery store. Cerberus ensures network resources are used as efficiently as possible for maximum throughput and composability, making it ideal for the interconnected, high-demand DeFi ecosystem.
Radix has also introduced a first-of-its-kind incentive program, Developer Royalties, to accelerate DeFi innovation. This system provides protocol-level incentives – similar to the incentives for secure network operators created by crypto “mining” – for any developer to contribute Components, large or small, that can become standards on the platform.
“DeFi is worth more than $4.7 billion and counting, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the trillions of assets managed by today’s global financial system,” said Piers Ridyard, CEO of Radix. “Radix introduces the technology that will power DeFi applications on a broader scale, letting them truly compete with traditional banking services without compromise.”
Radix has raised $6 million in startup funding. The company recently announced a $4.1 million investment from VC LocalGlobe and TransferWise Co-Founder Taavet Hinrikus. The Radix project has also benefited from over 3,000 BTC in community contributions since inception.
ABOUT RADIX
Radix (www.radixdlt.com) is the first layer-one protocol specifically built to serve the DeFi industry. Decentralized finance applications are currently built on protocols that were not designed to meet the requirements of DeFi. Radix changes this by introducing a scalable, secure, high-throughput protocol for building DeFi applications and tokens.
