Sharding is Here: What’s Next?

by Marvin Dumont

Apollo Foundation’s revolutionary sharding protocol has arrived, making Apollo one of the first crypto ventures to successfully launch the feature on its network. It solves long-term challenges with blockchain such as bloat.

The first shard executes at block 2,250,000 on April 1. (See important update on sharding release.)

As that happens, these take place:

1. It will split the ledger database into time-based (or blockchain height-based) segments. The split will be made on each node in the consensus. (Each node “knows” when that split occurred.)
2. Each shard will be completed every 750,000 blocks after 1,400 blocks of acknowledgment.
3. Information will be added to each shard/segment that allows blockchain operations to happen without queries to the full ledger database.
4. This will optimize the blockchain processing code to use the last segment for most operations.
5. Make each segment “trusted” by signing its summary tables.
6. Make full blockchain downloading optional/delayed. Download the latest segment of the ledger and start processing.
7. Download previous blockchain segments on demand.
8. Download blockchain from last to first blocks.

Bloat brings sustainability concerns. Over time, there will be billions of blocks (or more) on-chain. Although each block adds a tiny amount of data, the accumulated info will eventually grow to astronomical sizes.

Sharding makes downloading the full blockchain unnecessary. You get the latest slice of the ledger — and start processing. Previous slices can be accessed on demand — from last block to first.

The result is remarkable speed and scalability.

Here’s more info on Apollo sharding.

Sharding: A Solution To Blockchain Bloat
Explaining Sharding: A Game Changer For Blockchain
Sharding Will Launch April 1

Apollo (APL) all-in-one privacy currency combines features of mainstream cryptocurrencies in a truly private and unregulatable platform. With two-second block speed, APL is one of the fastest cryptos on Earth. The privacy platform lets “Apollonauts” transact and send data anonymously via Encrypted Messaging, Private Ledger, Decentralized Exchange, IP Masking 2.0 and Coin Mixing. Learn more at www.apollocurrency.com