What is Aeternity?
Aeternity (AE) is a unique blockchain design that incorporates many of the best features of bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. Built from scratch using the Erlang programming language, the Aeternity platform offers an advanced array of smart contract-based features, like prediction markets, digital insurance, crowdfunding capacities, and cross-atomic swaps. With the Aeternity platform it is easy to exchange system-native æon tokens for BTC, ETH or any number of other cryptocurrencies without having to go through a 3rd party intermediary (such as an exchange).
History of Aeternity
The idea for Aeternity was first developed in Zackary Hess, blockchain developer for Aeternity, had previous experience working on Ethereum-based projects, most notably that of Augur: a smart contract-based platform in which users are incentivized to make correct predictions of outcomes. Both Augur and Aeternity have enjoyed immense success since their launch, even after Hess’s departure from the project in June 2017.
Aeternity is based in Liechtenstein. Funds to develop the Aeternity platform were raised through an Ethereum-based ICO in April 2017. The first round of token sales brought in roughly $5.4 million and the second close to $20 million. Aeternity has a large team with members specializing in several different industries. Through innovation, initial success, online presence, and a commitment to bettering itself, Aeternity has developed a strong following and an active community of users. By January of 2018 it had achieved status as a top 50 coin in terms of market capitalization.
How Aeternity Works
The Aeternity blockchain uses a hybrid Proof of Work (PoW) / Proof of Stake (PoS) model and is programmed in the language Erlang. New Aeternity tokens, known as æons, are mined in a traditional PoW fashion and system governance is controlled through a PoS model. Aeternity achieves full decentralization through a series of interconnected, individually important nodes. It achieves fast data transmission by separating distinct types of data into “state channels,” which allows them to be transmitted interdependent of other types of data. Transaction speed is only dependent on user bandwidth.
Aeternity employs the use of smart contracts through its custom virtual machine environment. It uses Oracles that interface with systems outside the platform to provide real-world data. This makes it highly adaptable for use in predictive activities, similar to Ethereum’s Augur. Its blockchain is secured using a hybrid Proof-of-Work and Proof of Stake consensus mechanism.
Why Aeternity?
- Prediction Markets: any user can create their own question based on the outcome of real-world data, seek answers using a “wisdom of the crowd” style approach.
- Supply Chain Management: demand for supplies can be monitored using the predictive capacities of Aeternity’s smart contract Oracles, triggering user-defined orders after meeting programmed conditions.
- Insured Crowdfunding: user-based parameters guide the creation of blockchain-based crowdfunds with smart contract-enforced rules.
- Cross-chain atomic swaps: real-time, market-based rates of other cryptocurrencies are fed into Aeternity to provide a pricing mechanism for exchange rates with æon.
- Assets and portfolio replication: real-world data is used to provide pricing and value information for tokenized assets, allowing users to sell commodity-backed “shares” of physical items.