- Ethereum is a type of cryptocurrency with ETH as its native token.
- The scaling issue with Ethereum is solved by the sharding process.
- Cross-shard transactions involve transactions using multiple shards.
Cross-shard transactions require the coordination of multiple shards. It has some issues as well, such as high latency and low throughput, that can be solved by a new paradigm, RIVET. It is important as cross-shard transactions can be used in different applications.
What Is Ethereum?
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain technology-based platform. It can be used in the digital technology world to pay for tangible services and goods. It is secure, programmable, and scalable, and it supports smart contracts, which are an essential tool behind decentralized applications. ETH is considered an integral part of DeFi (Decentralized Finance), the metaverse, NFTs, and DAOs. It was launched in 2015 by Buterin and Joe Lubin (founders of ConsenSys, a blockchain software company) but was first introduced in 2014 by Vitalik Buterin.
It is based on blockchain technology It has three major properties, which are distribution through duplication, cryptography, and openness. Distribution and openness say that the data is accessible to everyone; it gets duplicated from one computer to another. Blockchain is structured through blocks, and blocks can be of any size based on the type of blockchain. The ‘value’ of the block depends on the data of the blockchain for which it is used to record.
Ethereum changed from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms in September 2022. Proof-of-stake is the way of processing cryptocurrency through staking, which means getting the digital equivalent of interest on invested assets. Ethereum, as a cryptocurrency, is the second-largest cryptocurrency in the market, ranked after Bitcoin.
The Ethereum wallet was created at the time of Ethereum mining. The mining of 1 Ethereum might take up to six months or more, according to current GPU trends and the level of difficulty. Ethereum mining involves five basic steps:
- Create an Ethereum-based crypto wallet.
- Select mining hardware, such as a GPU or ASIC.
- Choose the mining strategy.
- Install mining software.
- Collect rewards.
Cross-Shard Transactions
Sharding is defined as a very promising blockchain scaling solution. However, the process currently suffers from low throughput and high latency when it comes to cross-shard transactions. Cross-shard transactions are transactions that require multiple-shard coordination. These are essential to sharded blockchains as they enable users to atomically interact with multiple shards.
Popular examples of this are atomically booking a flight ticket and hotel room and stomach exchange of assets maintained at different shards. These are submitted to the reference shard by users in the system. Every cross-shard transaction specifies its potential read-write set in its description. Different paradigms are coming to solve the problem of cross-shard transactions. One good example is RIVET.
Conclusion
Cross-shard transactions are part of a promising blockchain scaling solution called sharding. However, it has some problems, such as low throughput and high latency. Moreover, it is required and very helpful in different applications; hence, it is essential. The problem can be solved by a new paradigm, RIVET, which has high throughput and low latency.
