This review will look at the Venom Network, a highly scalable, transparent, and secure Layer-0 blockchain protocol designed to host web3 applications. Specifically, we will consider its architecture, core features, competitive advantage, and products that comprise its ecosystem. Additionally, you are going to find a simple-to-follow tutorial on how to get started using Venom.
Venom is a Turing-complete Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain network developed and maintained by the Venom Foundation. The Foundation is the first institution registered within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and licensed to operate a blockchain and issue utility tokens.
Being ‘Turing-complete’ means Venom can host self-executing programming scripts (called smart contracts) similar to Ethereum (ETH). As a result, this enables Venom to run and host Web3 applications in various verticals, including decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), and Game Finance (GameFi) spaces, among others.
Venom declares, that its mission is to be the infrastructure for the next generation of digital services and products.
As the popularity of blockchain technology grows, the challenges that most protocols are facing become evident, such as:
However, Venom declares that it solves these challenges using an innovative heterogeneous blockchain (one with multiple layers and components all working asynchronously) architecture involving dynamic sharding to create a multi-blockchain platform ideal for business and retail users. The blockchain is designed to be highly scalable, decentralized, and cost-effective.
The Venom Foundation employs a heterogeneous multi-blockchain architectural approach to its blockchain design to solve the scalability challenge while reducing transaction fees. Notably, three layers comprise the Venom blockchain:
The three layers support parallel transaction processing, which is why Venom can process as many as 100,000 to 1M transactions every second (TPS).
The Masterchain is also called the base layer, or Layer-0, as it is the backbone of the Venom blockchain. The primary function of this layer is to:
As a Layer-0 blockchain, Venom can support other blockchains, which can be launched on top of the current infrastructure and either run independent protocols with its own native currency and virtual machine or inherit the features of Layer-0.
At launch, Venom was released with two chains, the Masterchain, and the Basechain. The latter is a Layer-1 Workchain to be used by end-users. This layer can be used to host decentralized apps (dApps).
The Venom blockchain supports a unique virtual machine dubbed the Threaded Virtual Machine (TVM) that enables it to support the deployment of smart contracts similar to Ethereum’s Virtual Machine (EVM). The same is also true of the Basechain on which dApps are currently being deployed.
TVM and EVM are currently not compatible even though Venom supports the Solidity programming language used for the development of the dApps deployed running on both Ethereum and Venom. This means that an app created for the EVM platform cannot be directly ported over to the TVM execution platform.
Workchains are specialized Layer-1 blockchains that can be used to achieve or serve various purposes. This open-ended nature of Workchains means that they are capable of supporting a wide array of applications, from finance-based DeFi applications to Gaming and the Metaverse ecosystem blockchains.
It is also ideal to have these various applications segregated because various industries require varying degrees of security, compliance, and privacy levels. Therefore, even though the Workchains are hosted on the same Layer-0 blockchain, they still have the flexibility to adhere to varying vertical-specific constraints.
It’s with noting that the Venom Masterchain is able to support as many as 2^32 Workchains.
Shards are constituent pieces or partitions of a blockchain that hold information on a subset of the accounts running on the main chain. Sharding has been discovered to be a scalability solution for decentralized networks enabling parallel transaction processing as each shard has its own validator sets simultaneously working on a pool of transactions.
With Venom, there is initially a single shardchain that is responsible for processing all transactions. However, if and when it experiences a higher-than-average workload, there will be an automatic shard split, and the transactions will be subdivided amongst the two new shardchains.
This process repeats until the workload is split amongst an appropriate amount of shard chains which are then able to process the available transactions fast and cost-effectively comfortably.
There is, however, a limit to the number of shard chains each Workchain can support, and that is 2^60 shard chains.
There are three core features that are portrayed by the Venom blockchain, and these are:
Let’s delve deeper into each of these features.
We have already mentioned this feature in the previous section, but it is worth reiterating as it is an important feature for the Venom blockchain. Dynamic sharding is a way for the blockchain to increase the number of shards or shard chains used to process transactions in parallel.
It initially starts with a single shard, but the number will increase or reduce according to network demand to a maximum of 2^60 shards. It is this feature that is largely responsible for the 100K TPS figure.
Venom employs a hybrid consensus mechanism approach that includes both Proof of Stake (PoS) and Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) algorithms. With PoS, transaction validators are required to stake a portion of their assets, which then enables them to participate. The higher the stake, the higher the probability that the validator will create a follow-up block.
The BFT algorithm ensures that the validators agree on the true version of the Venom blockchain following a round of voting. For this to happen, at least two-thirds of the validators need to agree.
Using both PoS and BFT consensus algorithms also adds to the speed of transaction validation and contributes to fast network verification.
Being asynchronous means that a system made up of various components allows for uncoordinated communication. In the case of the Venom blockchain, the three core components – Masterchain, Workchains, and Shardchains can operate independently of one another. Most importantly, they do operate simultaneously.
This means that transactions are processed faster, more cheaply, and more efficiently. Additionally, asynchronous architecture is ideal when it comes to supporting Workchains in different verticals with varying blockchain needs.
The Venom ecosystem is a suite of tools and services designed to enhance users’ experiences as they navigate and take advantage of the available Venom features.
The ecosystem includes the following services:
These are only the official dApps created and maintained by Venom Foundation. The community is also able to create and launch custom applications cost-effectively, meaning that with increasing adoption, there is bound to be a growing number of dApps on Venom.
Blockchains often suffer from a slew of the following challenges, some of which are easy to fix while others are impossible. The challenges include:
Here are the five ways that Venom has opted to tackle these and other issues that befall its rivals;
The Venom blockchain has a native platform cryptocurrency dubbed the VENOM token, which is instrumental in value transfer within the Venom ecosystem.
The VENOM token is currently inflationary, with an initial market supply of 7.2 billion tokens. Documentation shows that there are plans by the Foundation to alter supply metrics and shift to a deflationary model in the future once certain key indicators are achieved, including adoption, volume, and utility.
VENOM serves four primary purposes:
This process only applies to individuals who want to join the Venom community and take advantage of the various tools and services offered to the public. It entails creating a new crypto wallet to store VENOM tokens, among other assets.
To begin, visit the Venom Foundation website, scroll down, and locate the download panel as shown below.
There are two main options: download the app or install the browser extension for Chrome. We have opted for the latter in this tutorial, but the process is similar even on the application interface.
On the Chrome extensions webpage, click on the [Add to Chrome] button in the top right corner. If you are using the Brave Browser, as in this example, you will instead see the [Add to Brave] button.
Once you click the button, the extension will install in the background and automatically redirect you to the wallet creation page.
Select the [Create a new wallet] option.
Next, accept the website’s privacy policy, then hit the [Submit] button.
The next screen shows you a list of words. These are your backup phrases. Ensure that you write them onto a piece of paper and keep them in a safe place.
Once you do, hit the [I wrote it down on paper] button to continue to the verification step. Here, the system will prompt you to provide a random word from the phrase to ascertain that you did write it down.
Click [Confirm] to continue.
Before you log into your Venom wallet, you must create a password and confirm it.
Click the [Create the Wallet] button to finish the process.
Congratulations, you now have a Venom wallet and a public wallet address you can use to interact and transact within the Venom ecosystem.
The Venom Foundation claims that it has taken several steps to ensure that its blockchain is as secure as possible. Here are some of these measures: