There are limitless applications for blockchain – including everything from tokens to peer-to-peer applications. But in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that the enterprise space is where the technology is going to see increased adoption in the coming years.
This was the focus of a recent panel discussion at the London Blockchain Conference 2024 which considered how Teranode will deliver blockchain scaling for enterprise use. The panel featured:
- Behrad Babaee (Principal Architect at Aerospike)
- Jordan Kramsky (Solutions Architect at AWS)
- Benjamin Kraner (PhD Candidate at the University of Zurich)
- Siggi Oskarsson (Director Teranode at BSV Blockchain)
Understanding Teranode
Teranode solves vertical scaling challenges on the BSV blockchain by serving high-volume transaction nodes for enterprise and government use. Whether contracting with nodes or running their own, these clients drive the Teranode initiative.
In January, the BSV Blockchain R&D team announced groundbreaking features for Teranode that will significantly boost network efficiency and speed, pushing BSV’s capabilities to one million transactions per second in the not-too-distant future. Such technological leaps will enable mass transactions on blockchain-based infrastructure, supporting data processing on an unprecedented scale, at a fraction of traditional costs, while laying the foundation for a more secure financial ecosystem.
Teranode was recently extended and sustained testing on a Proof of Concept implementation began at the end of February, with a full node release later in 2024.
This is a ground-up rewrite of the BSV blockchain architecture, designed to scale horizontally and provide new microservices for developers, applications, and users. During this period, two tests were completed. One with three nodes and a second test with six nodes, proving that the Teranode network also scales for more participants on the network.
As part of this process, protocol custodian BSV Blockchain revealed a more service-oriented approach to the network’s work. The new features include ‘modularised’ functions such as transaction and block validation, plus block assembly into services that run only when required. The Teranode upgrade is critical for the BSV blockchain’s unbounded scaling potential and will deliver faster, more secure and cheaper transactions for all.
The importance of scale and proof-of-work
Oskarsson noted that any business which wants to do something meaningful will need to consider scale. ‘Scale scale, scale, scale. So a blockchain is just a timestamp service which you are going to use for your business needs. It’s not directly a blockchain business but a different type of business that uses the blockchain. So you need a blockchain that scales,’ he said.
‘And this was talked about in the beginning by Satoshi in 2009 and 2010 – about blockchain ending up in server farms and having it scale. And, we’re just working on realising that vision and adhering to the (original) Bitcoin protocol.’
Oskarsson was also asked about his views on proof-of-stake vs proof-of-work and the necessity of having a blockchain built on a proof-of-work model. ‘If you want an honest blockchain, you need to have that proof of work in there to make sure that all the participants are competing at a continuous pace and trying to outcompete each other, and are trying to get better and better,’ he said.
‘In a proof-of-stake system, you have something akin to a monopoly situation where you have parties that have a lot of coins, they stake them and they earn more coins. So they’re just getting bigger and bigger and it’s very difficult for an incumbent to come in and challenge that.’
Teranode – Like nothing done before
Babaee noted that he and his team are working with BSV Blockchain on the Teranode project which tackles the unique scaling problems facing the tech industry right now.
‘Most of the banking systems are built on top of relational systems, either on mainframes or other relational databases, that are inherently unscalable,’ he said.
‘So something like blockchain as a mathematically proven algorithm can come in to solve that complexity in the application layer and allow the banking system to scale unbounded.’ He pointed to Teranode’s ongoing tests as evidence of the exciting future to come.
‘These guys have managed to achieve one million BSV transactions per second, which is quite an achievement. But if they allocate enough resources, they should be able to do 100 million transactions per second, which is unheard of.’
