Interchain Data Hosting Project Combines Edge Computing With DLT

Interchain decentralized data hosting project Bluzelle (BLZ) announced the launch of its mainnet which aims to combine the advantages of edge computing with distributed ledger technology (DLT).

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on April 9, Bluezelle will host a network stress test dubbed “Swarm of Duty” which will be incentivized with $30,000 worth of tokens for developers, token holders and validators. 

The company says that this test is “the last step before Bluzelle’s mainnet launches” and is meant to ensure that the network can manage real-world usage.

Bluzelle’s team claims that its technology enables decentralized applications (DApps) on any blockchain to store and access its data in a secure and distributed manner. According to the announcement, this prevents the DApp’s reliance on centralized data storage infrastructure which could serve as a central point of failure:

“Transitioning to decentralized storage enables DApps to provision censorship-resistant content while making them more resilient to attack.”

Combining DLT and edge computing

The network divides its nodes into groups that it calls swarms which can be based on geographical position, function or even application. This reportedly allows the network to enjoy some of the bandwidth and latency advantages typical of edge computing systems.

Edge computing is a variation of cloud computing that has servers scattered across the globe in order to connect users to servers near them instead of one centralized server. Bluzelle's CEO and co-founder Pavel Bains explained:

“A swarm is a collection of nodes all working together for consensus. [This means] that we don't require system-wide consensus. So we can have a swarm that does validation for Asia. Let’s say there are 30 nodes in that swarm. Let’s say traffic builds up and we decide ‘let’s have a swarm just for Japan’. We can launch that easily. [...] The advantage we get is ensuring fast speeds for transactions and scalability.”

Bains told Cointelegraph that he believes this approach results in advantages over competitors such as IPFS:

“With members of the public being able to run edge replica nodes that can serve out Bluzelle’s service requests, all the advantages of edge computing can be met. In fact, with the success of the Bluzelle crypto-economic system, Bluzelle will be able to bring edge computing far closer to the consumer than any traditional edge computing system has been capable of.”

A Cosmos-based database

Bluezelle states that a recent consensus engine update made it the first database to use the inter-blockchain system Cosmos (ATOM) and its Tendermint consensus protocol. Bains told Cointelegraph that using this technology brings the network scalability advantages, Proof-of-Stake (PoS) support and interoperability with other blockchains.

Bains explained that crypto-economic incentives ensure data availability; customers pay transaction fees when taking advantage of data storage and making changes to the data, motivates validators to perform network maintenance:

“[Validators] need to stake tokens to participate and if they don’t meet the standards, they are slashed and lose their stake. This keeps the loop going. [...] Validators can earn BLZ for good behavior while tokens can be taken away for bad behavior. Also, BLZ holders can choose to be delegators.”

Blockchain’s relationship with data storage

Blockchain’s reliability and censorship resistance are values that many try to carry over to other industries. As Cointelegraph reported in a January use case analysis, one such industry is the data storage space where some are trying to create solutions that can safekeep data while taking advantage of the features of blockchain technology.

However, many blockchain-enabled data storage solutions offer security but leave the data transparent and accessible to anyone.