The Ethereum blockchain which is the second largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin which was developed to solve some of what bitcoin could not do, their limitations and their shortcomings. Ethereum blockchain since its development by Vitalek Buterin and co founders has seen massive improvement and growth. Aside the initial hack when it was still developing in its early stages, the Ethereum blockchain has been a home or if you like an app store or play store of sorts for the blockchain. Better put, it has been a dApp store or DEX store for cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum blockchain was built to help several developers use the blockchain to build decentralized applications (dApps) or decentralized finance protocols and decentralized exchanges that would help the crypto space bridge the gap and really promote peer - to - peer transactions that would have no need for third parties and finance regulators. It has seen the growth of Nonfungible tokens (NFTS) and even blockchain based games that all built on the Ethereum Network.
There is a software or a computer engine that helps Ethereum do what it does thereby managing and improving the blockchain. This program or software helps the smart contracts perform their functions in removing the need for third parties. This computation engine is known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is compatible on a number of other blockchains which aims to improve scalability and improve on the shortcomings of bitcoin and Ethereum. Some platforms the EVM support include Fantom , Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, * Matic* or Polygon, among others. All these blockchains aim at lowering gas fees and increasing transaction speed.
For this article, we would be looking at Fantom.
Fantom is a decentralized network that is used to build decentralizd applications (dApps). It is open source and a more scalable platform as compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Fantom works on a Directed Acrylic Graph (DAD). The transactions carried out on Fantom are vertices which appear as graphs due to it being run on DAG smart contracts. Fantom platform was introduced in the year 2018 by a South Korean international, Dr.Ahn Byung. Like other EVM blockchains, Fantom was created or developed to address scalability and transaction costs of Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is written in the Solidity and Vyper programming languages*.
Fantom is spread across the world with more than 60 countries and is eco - friendly unlike Bitcoin. Fantom has over 230K active monthly users which speaks volumes to the work being done. The blockchain carries out 850K transactions per day and has about 3.2M addresses.
Unlike in Bitcoin where it takes about 10 - 15 minutes to complete one transaction, it takes a lot less to complete a transaction on Fantom. On Fantom it takes about 2 seconds to complete a transaction. That's pretty insane and it solves the scalability issues other blockchains like bitcoin and Ethereum have. The reason why this is so different from bitcoin and Ethereum is that bitcoin is more concerned about security than speed. Fantom does not compromise on security too as it uses the Proof of Stake (POS) protocol. One nice thing is that if there's traffic anywhere on the Fantom network, it does affect the other parts of the platform and as such makes it work like independent blockchains.
The blockchain trilemma; scalability, security and decentralization is difficult for any blockchain to achieve but Fantom seeks to achieve that. It also does that by promoting decentralization, by being secure via the use of "Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerant (aBFT)"and completing transactions at an insane speed. Fantom also completes transactions at much lower fees than Ethereum and that results into increasing their fees almost with each passing day. Like I stated earlier about the different parts of the blockchain behaving like independent blockchains, the applications users create and deploy operate in their own "blockchain" on the Fantom platform while still solving the blockchain trilemma. The work of the aBFT is to work very fast while still maintaining security with the help of the proof of stake mechanism.
Lachesis is the aBFT algorithm of Fantom which is way more faster and more scalable than the other consensus algorithms. The users have the right to process commands at different ties bcause it is Asynchronous. It has the function of supporting a third of faulty nodes because it has Byzantine Fault - Tolerant feature. Fantom created Lachesis to be fast finality and high - "throughput".
Opera on Fantom is a secure platform used to build dApps. It works on Fantom's aBFT protocol. Per the website, Opera was designed to overcome the limitations of the older generations or versions of blockchains to keep compatibilityy with Ethereum smooth and seamless for dApp porting. I have made mentioned of proof of stake but in actual sense, the leaderless nature of Opera does not allow the validators to determine the blocks that are valid, However, you need about 1M FTM to be a validator.
The benefits of the Fantom blockchain is that it is trustworthy and transparent, it is secure, efficient and has new opportunities. It is always up tot date and very flexible.
Fantom blockchain although with ties to the EVM, has its own cryptocurrency, a native blockchain token that allows its users to perform a number of uses. It is used in governance, in staking, and as fees for transactions carried out on the blockchain. It can also be traded in the crypto market.
Staking FTM on Fantom fetches you rewards and is also important because it helps keep the blockchain secure. When carrying out any kind of transaction in the crypto verse, you need to pay gas fees and FTM allows you to carry out your transactions because you will use it to pay for gas or transaction fees. With governance, Fantom operates on a permission less bases which means users have control of the network changes, upgrades or decisions. They do this by voting and you can only take part in that voting when you have the FTM token.
When you stake your FTM, you have the chance to earn up to 4% APY ( Annual Percentage Yield) as staking rewards. This reward can go much higher if you stake for long periods like 1 year in which case you can get up to 12% APY. Very lucrative right? Fantom also offers opportunities like fSUD, a stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar. It has fSwap, a decentralized trading platform and a liquidity pool that allows users to lend and borrow known as fLend. February last year, Fantom had more $10B total value locked of FTM or opera FTM on its network. It also had over a hundred and fifty independent blockchains which seems like a lot but due to their scalability and interoperability, they all function properly and help dApp developers create. Presently, as at the time of writing, the total value locked stands at $257,537,803.30.
The fWallet is the official wallet of Fantom while it allows allows for Metamask, Ledger, Coinbase wallet, Math wallet, trust wallet,coin98, OKEX, among others.
Currently, there are over 200 dApps on Fantom. The projects run on Fantom are sub divided into Tooling, Data, Developer, NFT, Explorer, Investor, Platform and Governance. The DEX include SpookySwap, SpiritSwap, Beethoven X, Curve, 1inch, ParaSwap, KyberSwap, Solidly, Sushi, among others. The Lending and Borrowing] plaforms include Tarot, Qidao, Abracadabra, Hector Bank, Aquarus, Iron Bank, among others They are all on the homepage here
Under tooling, there are 19 projects which include; FantomeEye, Degen.Watch, DeBAnk, Zapper, Yield Monitor, DEFIYIELD.App, Request Finance, Shield Protocol, Mint CLub, Go+Security, among others. The Data projects are only 4 including Pocket Network, Chainbase, Footprint Analytics, NFTScan Opensea.
The developer projects are 2 including Fantom Faucet and NFTScan. The NFT projects are 60 including fOracle, Planadas, tofuNFT, Fantom Kittens, FantomPunks, Goool B-Sides, Gooolmon, among others.
The Explorer projects are 2 including Fantom Explorer and FTMSCAN. Investor project is only 1 which is FantomStarter and the Platform project is 16. It includes Fantom, Elk Finance, Syfin, Iron Finance, Demos, MyConstant, Synapse Protocol, ENV Finance, among others.
To conclude, the Fantom blockchain is a fast, scalable, decentralized blockchain built on EVM that solves the limitations of Ethereum and Bitcoin. It houses over 200 dapps and has lending and borrowing platform, Yield farming, Cross chain bridges and a whole lot of other projects including NFTS, Explorers, Investors, among others. FTM is the native token of Fantom and has uses like governance and staking. Stake to earn staking rewards.
Thank you
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