Network Architecture
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Polkadot is a third generation heterogenous multi-chain which enables for both cross-chain value transfer and cross-chain composability. As a result of this it is able to deliver superior transaction throughput as well as interoperability between different blockchains.
It also consists of a robust governance framework to help guide protocol development over time, as well as a secure smart contract language known as Substrate
Polkadot achieves scalability in two ways:
This is a form of sharding which consists of a Relay Chain + Parachain architecture.
The Relay Chain is responsible for maintaining the state of each Parachain and for producing blocks. It is maintained by validators that are selected through an NPoS scheme, these validators need to vote on consensus and are rewarded for doing so in the form of DOT tokens.
Parachains are application-specific data structures that are globally coherent and validatable by the validators of the Polkadot Relay Chain. In their most common implementation, parachains take the form of other blockchains connecting to the Relay Chain. They take their name from the concept of parallelized chains that run parallel to the Relay Chain. Due to their parallel nature, they are able to parallelize transaction processing and achieve scalability of the Polkadot system. They share in the security of the entire Polkadot network and can communicate with other parachains through XCMP.
Blocks of each Parachain are produced via Polkadot's novel BABE and GRANDPA consensus mechanisms.
BABE employs a Verifiable Random Function primitive in order to randomly assign block production slots which the Relay chain has produced.
GRANDPA is the finality gadget which determines the order in which those blocks are produced and allows for parallel-pipelined processing of blocks.
Polkadot also consists of cross-chain bridges which aren't aligned to Polkadot's Governance protocols.
Blockchain bridges are ways for two economically sovereign and technologically diverse chains to communicate with each other. Bridge designs come in a variety of flavors ranging from centralized and trusted to more decentralized and trustless. Polkadot favors the latter bridge designs for its ecosystem, however there is nothing that blocks a development team from building and deploying the former.
One advantage of the Polkadot Network is that it is a next generation L1 network that focuses on interoperability and defines a mechanism for different blockchains to communicate while maintaining separate state-transition functions.
This potentially allows separated or isolated blockchains to be networked together, forming a sort of “internet of blockchains,” where private chains can be firewalled from public chains such as Ethereum, but are still be able to communicate with each other via pre-defined state-transition functions, similar to the internet handshake protocols used today to establish networking.
For TribeOne, the advantages of building on Polkadot include:
True interoperability. TribeOne will be one of the first cross-chain DeFi yield engines. Polkadot’s unique architecture compartmentalizing standardization and validity allows many divergent consensus protocols, open and closed networks to achieve interoperability.
Flexible and Open Source underlying architecture. Polkadot is powered by Substrate, a fully open source infrastructure project that can be used to build Polkadot compatible blockchains. Some of the more advanced features of the TribeOne Protocol might require a custom statetransition function, thus having the option to create a custom Polkadot compatible chain is critical.
Economic and transactional scalability. Polkadot is built to be scalable from the ground up, compared to first generation smart contract platforms, such as Ethereum 1.0, that has experienced severe network congestion issues, causing security vulnerabilities and irregular market behaviors. TribeOne also wants to leverage a highly scalable network so that gas fees can be kept to a minimum and not eat into the profitability of users’ yield farming or staking.
Decentralized governance. Polkadot’s governance system is a DAO where all stakeholders have a voice. Upgrades to the network are coordinated on-chain and enacted autonomously, ensuring that Polkadot’s development reflects the values of the community and avoids stagnation. This is compatible with TribeOne’s decentralized, stake-based governance, and prevents risk of any security from centralization.
The technologies to create the TribeOne platform architecture are:
Modern JavaScript front-end applications written in AngularJS with Socket.io for streaming quick & real-time updates
NodeJS, and Java backend technologies structured in microservices architecture for easy scaling
Cloud hosting in AWS for deep stack monitoring
Cloudflare CDN and Firewall for network optimization and DDOS protection
IPFS for tamper-proof, immutable database management
Polkadot (using Substrate) as the blockchain solution due to its flexibility of working with various other blockchain projects through their Parachian architecture
As TribeOne progresses in its decentralized initiatives, we may consider building our own blockchain if Polkadot is not able to support our long-term volumes and initiatives. Some of our long-term initiatives include the development of the following list of products and services:
When a crypto loan is set up, TribeOne smart contract will be responsible for the automatic disbursement of cash, asset maintenance, notifications, and overall management.
The TribeOne smart contract will automatically record repayments and further accounts for all transactions made by clients. Interest repayments, outstanding balances, and upto-date loan limits are automatically maintained at all times by the system.
The TribeOne Oracle partner will perform real-time asset valuation based on data from multiple exchanges at any given point in time. The TribeOne Oracle partner will maintain live data aggregation from multiple independent sources (i.e., exchanges), which will minimizes overall risk for both TribeOne and the client. The TribeOne partner’s blockchain Oracle also detects live changes in asset value and will provide the TribeOne smart contract the data required for recalculation of loan limits and LTV.
All loan maintenance actions are automatically executed by the TribeOne smart contracts without any manual intervention: change in asset value and loan limit; cash inflows/outflows; maintenance and rebalancing warnings are issued in case of reaching minimum crypto asset limits; individual account balances are updated with repayments; administrative notifications are sent to the client with all relevant information.
In order to secure proper system functions, TribeOne integrates big data analysis, selfregulating algorithms, and prediction modelling into the TribeOne smart contract. That way, TribeOne can guarantee that the information received from multiple external data sources is used for proper on-time business decision-making.
