Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino previously ran JP Morgan’s blockchain group, and now they’re running a new blockchain that launched yesterday, Kadena.
Braided Architecture
The new blockchain sports a “braided” architecture.
The project is described as “a hybrid blockchain platform that leapfrogs existing smart contract blockchain solutions like Ethereum and solves the proof of work scalability issues of Bitcoin.”
Marketing materials credit the braided architecture with giving the blockchain the ability to process 750 transactions per second, versus Bitcoin’s current rate of 7.
Apparently, the project will retain a proof-of-work hashing mechanism but also cut down on the energy required.
Proof-of-work is the process of dedicating CPU and other types of cycles to finding solutions in cryptographic setups. In Bitcoin and most other systems, the more people that are mining, the more energy and effort that is required to “find” a block.
Popejoy and Martino raised $15 million to research and develop the project. According to press materials:
Kadena is designed to work within the existing crypto ecosystem and to work with, instead of attempting to replace, everything. Kadena envisions a world of thousands of blockchains and APIs all talking to one another including bitcoin, ethereum, etc.
750 TPS
Kadena also introduces a new smart contract language called Pact, which is said to be Turing complete. Turing completeness is important in terms of what a blockchain decentralized application is capable of. Ethereum’s EVM has a Turing complete state, which greatly improves the possibility of Ethereum dApps.
The blockchain, which is dubbed a “hybrid” design, focuses heavily on “interoperability” with existing blockchains and members of the crypto ecosystem. This is to say that it will be able to interface with Ethereum and others.
Stuart Popejoy said:
Despite blockchain having immense potential, our experience building JP Morgan’s first blockchain showed us its limitations. Launching a fully functional hybrid blockchain which seamlessly integrates a public chain with a private network is a significant step forward in reimagining what applications can do on-chain.
Kadena is the latest in a series of “enterprise” blockchain solutions that the industry has seen coming in the past few years. Another major player in that space is IBM, who with the help of Stellar are building an enterprise solution for every aspect of the blockchain, including finance.
Martino, who acts as the CEO of the outfit, said:
We’ve solved the scaling challenges of Bitcoin with parallel Proof of Work chains while addressing the security issues of Ethereum with Pact. Today’s launch of our public blockchain with smart contract transactions, which completes our hybrid platform, advances mainstream adoption. We’re excited to see how Kadena’s blockchain will empower entrepreneurs and enterprises to bring in Economics 2.0.
More about Kadena can be found at its website.
