In this episode of CRYPTO 101 Matthew sat down with the COO of AELF, Chen Zhuling. They had the opportunity to discuss the AELF project while also covering some crypto basics like side chains, parallel processing and cloud computing.
Chen Zhuling is originally from China and currently living in Singapore after receiving a government scholarship to study there. His entire working life was spent in the fields of engineering and science. After developing an interest in business culture he began working in the area of increasing efficiency in various business areas which led him to blockchain technology and the crypto space.
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Like many crypto project leaders, Zhuling realised that the original version of blockchain technology (Bitcoin) was perfect for cryptocurrency, but the scalability and speed were not optimal for other use cases. Zhuling joined with Blockchain veteran Ma Haobo to create what was originally GRID but is now known as AELF — a name that came from their love of gaming and their affinity for the mythical elvish race.
What is AELF?
AELF aims to be a multi-chain solution for multiple industries that uses decentralised cloud computing and parallel processing to create industry specific solutions on a scalable blockchain project.
The AELF Whitepaper describes the ambition of the project as one day becoming a “highly efficient and customizable OS that will become the ‘Linux system’ for Blockchain.”
“We believe AELF is the next generation of public blockchain that is customisable and also high-performant for various business uses. We want to have industry specific chains running on top of AELF. Some chains supporting banking, another chain supporting gaming, maybe another chain supporting storage.”
— Chen Zhuling —
Some 101 Definitions
- Parallel Processing
- The diversification of computer tasks in a way that allows tasks to be processed together at the same time. Traditionally computers could complete one task after another. With Parallel processing, multiple tasks can be performed at once.
- Decentralised Cloud Computing
- The processing of computer tasks by a network of computers rather than one localised server. Decentralised cloud computing is one of the ways parallel processing is made possible. It also allows specifilaising of specific computers to focus on specific types of tasks
- Side Chains
- Side chains are secondary ledgers that operated off of the main ledger, but are ultimately “settled” back on the main ledger. This allows for the main chain to rid itself of congestion when scaling up. Side chains are believed to be essential for smart contract blockchains needing to scale to large numbers of transactions
- Multi-chain
- Similar to cloud computing, multi-chain solutions implement multiple blockchains that allow to parallel processing on the blockchain with individual chains being able to specialised for specific tasks.
Nodes?
AELF runs as a Dedicated Proof of Stake blockchain. All the nodes are run on cloud computing which means average people can run and operate a mining node for the security and maintenance of the AELF blockchain.
The Linux Style
AELF is less of a ready-made blockchain solution like Ethereum and more of an operating system. The AELF blockchain is ready to accept an individual business, remittance company, gaming platform etc. to create their own AELF sidechain using their template, and then plug into the AELF network to settle transactions.
The Risk?
With Dedicated Proof of Stake models, the cost of compromising the network is relatively small. If a large company decided to own more than 50% of all nodes, the project could easily crumble. As AELF grows and becomes more attractive to multiple parties, the network’ points of failure become smaller and more spread out. Additionally, AELF’s ambitions are in direct competition with many other projects, not least some of the top 10 blockchain projects in the entire space. This could pose a threat to adoption and thus, usability. There was no public sale, only a selective private sale targeting large investors. This is a slight concern for me as their success is dependant on a high level of decentralisation, but their initial investment is coming from a small pool of wealthy parties.
“We need to ensure that we can show the community that the value of AELF is in being decentralised and being secure.”— Chen Zhuling —
Please, check out the podcast and let us know what you think of AELF.