Starcoin 2.0 | Tempus: Navigating the Next Wave of Web3

Starcoin
8 min readOct 9, 2023

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The Changing Times

In the ever-evolving world of blockchain, we’ve entered a groundbreaking phase to achieve substantial performance improvements: Starcoin 2.0, known as “Tempus”.

“Tempus”, derived from Latin, translates to “time”. It embodies Starcoin’s unwavering commitment to continuous innovation in the blockchain arena, symbolizing our dedication to the rhythm of time, evolution, and persistent progress.

As time marches on, blockchain technology matures, solidifying its position as a pioneering force in revolutionary advancements.

The rapid evolution of this technology is both exhilarating and fraught with challenges that need to be addressed to continue propelling the blockchain industry forward.

What is Starcoin?

Starcoin is a blockchain project utilizing an improved version of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism and the Move programming language for its smart contracts.

Our mission is to provide a secure, high-performance, and inclusive public chain capable of catering to the massive demands of the future without compromising user asset security. We are deeply committed to constructing robust blockchain infrastructure, adhering to principles of security and decentralization, to deliver reliable and future-oriented blockchain solutions that propel the growth of the digital economy.

Starcoin envisions crafting a secure and decentralized digital ecosystem that offers unprecedented opportunities for both individuals and businesses, shaping the future of Web3 infrastructure.

Starcoin’s Trajectory

Since its initial launch, Starcoin has seen over two years of growth, with profound gratitude owed to the enduring support from our community. As we face industry challenges, our focus remains on enhancing performance, and our ecosystem continues to garner increased backing.

Central to Starcoin’s pledge is maximizing performance while ensuring user asset security. We’re perpetually refining our PoW model, unlocking the potential of the Move smart contract language, and crafting genuinely decentralized, efficient infrastructure.

In the past year, total transactions exceeded 15 million, social media engagement surged by 308%, partnerships strengthened, and our community consistently grew. These figures underscore the vibrant growth of the Starcoin community.

From a technical and ecosystem standpoint, Starcoin prioritizes scalability, security, and governance. With Move version upgrades, transparent management, cross-chain bridge integrations, and the development of Easy Gas, we’re holistically enhancing our infrastructure.

Web3 Industry Today

The blockchain sector grapples with challenges of scalability, speed, and security — often termed the ‘trilogy’ of blockchain dilemmas. Transaction speed, in particular, is pivotal, especially when forecasting large-scale future transaction demands; the current TPS (transactions per second) seems to fall short.

TPS, gauging the number of transactions a blockchain network can process per second, is crucial for scalability, rapid transaction execution, enhanced user experience, and competitive edge. In an era characterized by swift information dissemination and accelerated development, speedy transaction processing is paramount for user satisfaction, ensuring they’re not hindered by congestion issues.

While Solana is lauded for its impressive throughput, it has made certain trade-offs in decentralization. Concurrently, Ethereum’s Layer 1 performance constraints necessitate Layer 2 solutions to alleviate mainnet congestion and high transaction fees. Furthermore, the Eth2.0 upgrade introduces a PoS consensus mechanism to augment efficiency and scalability, albeit with potential implications for decentralization.

The industry at large is fervently striving to address blockchain network challenges in scalability, security, and speed to achieve higher TPS, thereby fostering broader blockchain application and heightening efficiency. As a pivotal metric, TPS will determine a blockchain network’s standing and competitiveness in an intensely contested market. Starcoin must consistently address challenges in speed and efficiency to meet user demands and encourage wider adoption.

What Drives Starcoin?

With the digital realm’s relentless advancement, one truth is evident: blockchain technology is gradually cementing its role as a linchpin in the global financial and technological ecosystems. Throughout this progression, Starcoin remains steadfast in its ambition to serve as a formidable cornerstone of this pillar.

Security: Crafting an Impenetrable Line of Defense

From its inception, security has been paramount for Starcoin. We recognize that devoid of security, all functionalities and performance are ephemeral. Thus, we became the first permissionless blockchain adopting the Move language and virtual machine, utilizing the tried-and-true PoW consensus while continuously enhancing and updating our cryptographic algorithms.

Decentralization: Genuine Power Devolution

Decentralization isn’t just a core tenet for Starcoin; it’s our foundation. We firmly believe that to realize a genuinely decentralized vision, power and control must revert to users. Hence, besides embracing a truly decentralized PoW consensus, Starcoin has conceptualized a unique DAO governance model, enabling all community members to actively partake in decision-making, ensuring every voice resonates.

By embracing user voting, community proposals, and transparent decision-making processes, Starcoin has offered truly decentralized services to global users. We further encourage developers and users to leverage the Starcoin platform, forging and employing decentralized applications to intensify the ecosystem’s decentralization.

Performance: Unparalleled Speed and Efficiency

While Starcoin’s initial design emphasized security and decentralization, we soon realized that to cater to the surging market demands, performance was key. Thus, we gradually integrated a myriad of technical optimizations, such as enhanced Nakamoto consensus, parallelized transaction technology TurboSTM, innovative DAG technology FlexiDAG, and tiered design to augment processing speed and minimize transaction costs.

From its humble beginnings, envisioning the most secure decentralized blockchain, Starcoin has indefatigably pursued security, decentralization, and performance for years. With accumulated years of experience and the current landscape in view, we’ve executed groundbreaking performance enhancements, ushering in the era of Starcoin 2.0.

Starcoin 2.0: “Tempus”

What is Starcoin 2.0?

Starcoin 2.0 signifies the major upgrade to the Starcoin mainnet, marking the project’s leap into its second crucial phase. The initiative primarily focuses on overcoming the scalability limitations of the PoW consensus while retaining its core principle of decentralization.

As blockchain technology transitions from simple transactions to intricate digital interactions, it’s apparent that improving its efficiency is paramount. This gives rise to challenges in scalability. It is vital for Starcoin to enhance its system performance to keep up with the ever-growing demands of its users.

Why the name “Tempus”?

This phase of Starcoin 2.0 has been fondly dubbed the “Tempus” era. The term “Tempus,” derived from Latin, means “time.” This nomenclature reflects Starcoin’s commitment to blockchain industry innovation and progress, recognizing the essence of time in technological evolution.

Starcoin 2.0 Highlights

In the blockchain universe, technological advancements are ceaseless. Listening to our community, learning from past experiences, and contemplating future needs have all shaped the design of Starcoin 2.0. Here, our design mirrors our unique perspective on the vision of Web3.0. Allow us to elucidate the core components of Starcoin 2.0.

Starcoin 2.0 has adopted industry-leading parallelization technology, delivering a notable enhancement in transaction efficiency. In consistent testing environments, the introduction of the new TurboSTM parallelization method has allowed for a 17-fold increase in transaction processing over the 1.0 version. Furthermore, with the implementation of the new consensus algorithm, FlexiDAG, block generation speed (BPS) has improved by ten times compared to its predecessor.

  1. Security: Fortified Defenses to Safeguard Assets

Security remains at the heart of Starcoin 2.0’s architecture. We’ve extensively refined our current safety protocols and upgraded Move to its V8 edition, establishing it as the industry’s most secure smart contract language and virtual machine. Furthermore, the Starcoin framework has been elevated to V11, maximizing Move’s latest security attributes, thereby ensuring assets are protected unyieldingly.

2. Decentralization: Power Decentralized for the Next Generation

Decentralization is ingrained in Starcoin’s DNA. With version 2.0, we’ve further amplified the capabilities of Starcoin DAO. The new governance model is more open, fair, and enables broader community participation. Stay tuned for further updates and interpretations.

3. Consensus: Advanced Technology for Stability and Efficiency

Starcoin 2.0 introduces FlexiDAG, a groundbreaking PoW consensus algorithm, which is not only more eco-friendly but also significantly boosts network responsiveness and transaction confirmation timings. Furthermore, the algorithm considerably reduces the prospects of a “51% attack,” further enhancing network security.

4. Performance: Harnessing State-of-the-Art Parallelization Techniques

Starcoin 2.0 employs leading parallelization techniques, offering a remarkable improvement in transaction performance. Under equivalent testing conditions, with the new TurboSTM parallelization method, transaction processing capability has surged 17-fold. Leveraging the new FlexiDAG directed acyclic graph consensus algorithm, block production speed (BPS) has also experienced a tenfold increase compared to its 1.0 predecessor.

4.1) FlexiDAG: Balancing Parallel Processing with Security

FlexiDAG is Starcoin’s innovative response to the challenges of performance and scalability under the PoW framework. It stands out with its capability to identify high-connectivity uncle blocks, ensuring only blocks with strong links are appended to the blockchain. This parallel approach significantly bolsters scalability while warding off malicious attacks.

Furthermore, Starcoin’s Move is a resource-oriented programming language. It inherently protects users from vulnerabilities, facilitating secure digital asset transfers.

4.2) TurboSTM: Revolutionizing Smart Contract Execution Strategies

Conventional single-thread execution of smart contracts has always been a bottleneck for scalability. Peak transaction costs have often undermined the Web3 experience.

TurboSTM is Starcoin’s avant-garde approach, transitioning smart contract execution into a parallel process. Integrating Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) with optimistic locking, TurboSTM ensures synchronous data record reading and prompt updates.

When paired with our affordable and adjustable transaction cost mechanism, Easy Gas, TurboSTM positions Web3 as the epitome of swift, cost-effective, and secure transactions.

As the sole PoW public chain that supports Move smart contracts, Starcoin, after integrating FlexiDAG and TurboSTM, promises users enhanced throughput and transaction efficiency without compromising security.

Starcoin 2.0’s Role in the PoW Ecosystem

The innovative practices during the Starcoin 2.0 era, which offer groundbreaking solutions to PoW mechanism’s scalability issues, present a highly efficient and viable approach to transcend the PoW ecosystem’s development boundaries. These advances not only boost adoption rates but also provide agile, high-throughput optimization solutions for the PoW ecosystem’s DeFi systems. They redefine performance standards for PoW consensus blockchains.

Starcoin 2.0 Community

Indeed, we’re commencing this new chapter in a decentralized manner.

Through collective efforts from our community, we’ll stride into the Starcoin 2.0 Tempus era.

Our journey is shared. Each step is dictated by the collaborative involvement of our supporters. Starcoin 2.0 is our pledge to the future, envisioning a blockchain world fused with speed, security, and decentralization. We are confident that the Tempus phase will not only enrich the experience for the Starcoin community but also set a new developmental precedent for the entire blockchain industry.

We’d like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our community partners for their support! Thank you to the entire community for standing by us and continually offering your encouragement!

We’re on the cusp of initiating a new community phase, offering fresh organizational approaches for the proactive community of the future, urging community supporters to actively shape the prospects of the Starcoin project.

So, how can everyone participate?

Kick-off Starcoin 2.0

Join the Starcoin 2.0 launch event! Starcoin 2.0 Sneak Peek: TurboSTM & FlexiDAG. Early Explorers, Unite!

We extend a warm invitation to our community and all blockchain enthusiasts to partake in the STARCOIN 2.0 Light Preview event! Witness and become part of a pivotal moment in blockchain history, where scalability breakthroughs in the PoW ecosystem come to life. Together, let’s usher Starcoin 2.0 into an era brimming with boundless potential!

The Starcoin 2.0 Sneak Peek: TurboSTM & FlexiDAG is gearing up to launch its preview event! STC rewards await early explorers! Stay tuned! Let’s collectively embark on the Starcoin 2.0: Tempus era!

About Starcoin

Starcoin provides the utmost security from the origin via its enhanced PoW consensus and Secure smart contract, using the language of Move. Through layered and flexible interoperability, it optimizes the building of ecosystems such as DeFi, NFTs, Gaming, etc., with higher efficiency and convenience. This process redefines value by empowering every participant in the ecosystem to enjoy the multiplication of values.

Follow Starcoin on social media to stay up to date with all the latest developments.

Website | Twitter | Medium | Telegram | Linktr.ee

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Starcoin

Starcoin is a proof-of-work blockchain that enables secure smart contracts based on Move to power services in Web 3.0