Developers can extract security from Bitcoin
Babylon, a blockchain platform, has successfully implemented an upgrade to its testnet
Babylon, a blockchain platform that combines the best of both worlds by reusing the immense Bitcoin hash power, has successfully implemented a major upgrade to its testnet. V0.7.1 of the network allows developers to extract security from Bitcoin to secure their applications and blockchains by deploying Babylon smart contracts. It also introduces extensive smart contract capabilities built using the popular CosmoWasm and Wasmd framework.
By providing a data-available timestamp service, Babylon protects PoS chains by enabling them to time-stamp data-available block checkpoints, fraud proofs, and censored transactions on Babylon. Babylon miners merge mine with Bitcoin and thus the platform has no additional energy costs. The security of a Babylon-enhanced PoS protocol is formalized by a crypto-economic security theorem that provides demonstrable guarantees of security and liveliness.
History of Proof of Stake
Sunny King and Scott Nadal created the proof of stake model in 2012. The first cryptocurrency project to use this algorithm was Peercoin. The Proof of Stake aims to make the validation process virtual. The power process for the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism is the same as that of PoW. However, the method to arrive at the end result is different. Proof of Stake replaces the miners with validators or counterfeiters. These validators will place their resources in the blockchain as an interest.
They bet on the next block they believe should be included in the chain. Each contributor or validator receives a reward based on their effort. Ethereum developers are planning to migrate from the Proof of Work (PoW) method to Proof of Stake (PoS). PoS will consume less electricity resources when mining compared to PoW. Proof of Stake can also make attacks on the blockchain more difficult. It takes too many resources to launch an attack on the chain. A disadvantage of the PoS consensus mechanism is the large number of coins required before a counterfeiter is allowed to make a bet.
V0.7.1 is finally here!
The community has been eagerly awaiting this upgrade since Babylon’s first testnet launch four months ago. During this time, Babylon’s testnet has attracted significant interest and integrated with 28 of the top Cosmos SDK chains, including Osmosis, Akash, Sei Network, Injective, Evmos, and Stride, demonstrating traction for its technology.
This upgrade extends Babylon’s capabilities beyond the Cosmos ecosystem, making it suitable for a wider range of applications. It positions Babylon as a robust platform for developing decentralized applications for all industries, especially DeFi, NFTs and GameFi, where security is the top priority.
David Tse, co-founder of Babylon, said: “We are pleased to announce the launch of Babylon v0.7.1, introducing smart contract integration. This marks a critical milestone for Babylon, making it a powerful platform for deploying a wide variety of protocols, facilitating the development of decentralized applications secured by the power of the Bitcoin network.
About Babylon
Babylon is a project that designs security protocols for the decentralized world. Babylon’s origins come from a research paper on Bitcoin security co-authored by Babylon co-founder David Tse, a Stanford professor and Ethereum 2.0 researcher, and EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan, and their colleagues. The project is led by a team of Stanford consensus protocol researchers and experienced Tier 1 engineers from around the world.
Babylon’s mission is to scale Bitcoin to secure the decentralized world. To achieve this, Babylon uses the three main facets of Bitcoin: Bitcoin as an asset, its reliable timestamping service, its most censorship-resistant block space in the world. To take advantage of these facets, Babylon is developing three innovative security sharing protocols: Bitcoin Staking Protocol, Bitcoin Timestamping Protocol, and Bitcoin Data Availability Protocol. Through these groundbreaking protocols, Babylon envisions a more secure and decentralized future.