Maybe you have ever heard about Parachains. In the world of cryptocurrencies there are more and more changes, especially in the blockchain software. These changes are usually highly complex, however, today we will tell you all about one of them in an easy and simple way.
Most changes to blockchains are made with the goal of making a network faster and more efficient. One example of these changes is parachains. This concept is relatively new and although it is being implemented in more and more projects, many users are unaware of its purpose and usefulness.
In this article we will see how a parachain works and which are the most important ones.
How does a Parachain work?
In a nutshell, the concept of parachain refers to a secondary blockchain network. This secondary network is integrated into the main blockchain network or relaychain. It should be noted that not all blockchain networks support the integration of a parachain. So far only Polkadot’s test network, Kusama, supports this new implementation. It is expected that soon Polkadot’s blockchain will start implementing parachains as well.
To understand the concept we will start with a brief description. Parachains are blockchain networks located inside other networks that users support through auctions and receive rewards for them. At first glance it is difficult to understand. But we will explain the concept step by step.
The question most users ask is: What is the point of implementing a second network on a network that already fulfills the main function? The implementation of parachains does make sense and that is to turn the main network into a kind of Internet of blockchains. This Internet of blockchains allows the network programmers to develop their own systems by relying on a larger network with greater capacity.
This innovation opens the way for new projects and the development of applications within the new blockchain networks. An example of this could be decentralized exchanges or other projects included in the DeFi world.
The importance of parachains for non-programming users is also notable. This importance stems from the way in which parachains are created. To better understand their importance, let’s look at the example of the Kusama network.
Kusama makes available to developers what we would call “slots” for parachains. The mechanism is simple: developers submit their projects to fill these “slots” and KSM holders (the Kusama token) choose which project to support with their Kusamas.
Clearly their support comes from the Kusamas owned by the owners. Through them, the auction of the “hole” for such parachain is supported.
In the event that the slot is won through the auction, not only are the invested Kusamas returned to the owners, but also all those users who supported the project and made the developer win the auction are rewarded.
Although this concept is relatively new in the digital world, there are currently exchanges that offer their users the possibility of depositing coins for parachain auctions, such as Kala or Karura. As we said before, the next network to launch its own parachain auctions is expected to be Polkadot.
So far we understand that the usefulness of parachains is to allow users of a cryptocurrency to support individual projects of different developers that they consider promising. In the event that the projects win the auctions, the users who initially supported the project will be rewarded for their work. All this facilitates a higher economic return on the cryptocurrency network without the need to sell cryptocurrencies.
Parachains in Polkadot
As a general rule, blockchain-based projects are oriented to meet objectives such as security, scalability and decentralization. It is extremely difficult to achieve the fulfillment of these three characteristics, however, Polkadot is one of the projects that works every day to achieve it.
Polkadot employs a multi chain technology in its operation that allows the improvement of the operation between blockchains. Thanks to this technology, different blockchains can operate with each other efficiently, taking a step forward in decentralization.
Among the possibilities offered by this project is to allow its decentralized ecosystem to expand and allow the development of other projects on the advantages of projects already launched and advanced. All these advantages are difficult to find in other projects and this is because the Polkadot network presents a feature that so far, is not developed in most blockchains: the aforementioned parachains.
This makes the network structure one of the most complex compared to the average. The parachains part of the project consists of parallelizable chains that are part of the Polkadot structure.
These parallel blockchain networks adhere to the security provided by the central transmission chain or what we would call “Relay chain” so it does not provide security of its own.
Such parachains are customizable. This feature means that the owner of a parachain can decide how to shape the structure of the network to best suit the application he wants to develop. In addition, he can also control the governance of such a network.
The fact that the parachain is inside Polkadot makes it possible to distribute transactions between different blockchains. In other words, it allows to parallelize transactions achieving greater scalability.
If you want to learn more about the Polkadot network, on this very blog, we recommend a very detailed article about the project that will help you understand it better. We have even created a specific article on how to mine Polkadot to earn DOT tokens.
See you next time.
