Aleo Project Introduction — Part.2 “Aleo Principles and Roadmap”
Last time, we posted about the Aleo project on our blog.
Since then, Aleo has been expanding its fandom by receiving a lot of attention from many people around the world. And not long ago, Aleo announced the roadmap that many people have been waiting for, and the enthusiasm for the project is getting hotter. While doing so, it is making its name known as the most influential company in the Korean Aleo fandom.
So today’s post would like to tell you about Aleo in more detail.
ABOUT ‘Aleo’
Aleo is a blockchain-based platform company headquartered in Nevada, USA, which I explained in the last post. And it attracted a lot of attention by receiving investments from global conglomerates such as Softbank in Japan, Samsung NEXT in Korea, A16Z, and Coinbase.
Aleo can be defined in one word as a smart contract ‘Public Chain’. Here, smart contract is a technology that can easily and conveniently conclude and modify contracts through P2P without intermediaries, and public chain means an open blockchain network in which anyone can freely participate.
No matter which platform you use in this day and age, providing personal information is essential.
All data is collected and stored, and it is possible to ensure transparency of data as it can be identified in each network. However, there is a downside of blockchain technology that it can infringe on individual privacy, and Aleo is a ‘private app’ platform that compensates for this shortcoming and secures decentralization, scalability, and stability.
The technology that made the private app possible is Zero Knowledge. For information on zero-knowledge proof and Aleo coin mining method PoSW, please refer to the previously posted ‘Introduction to the Aleo Project-Part.1’ It’s possible.
(Shortcut: https://tokencanglobal.blogspot.com/2022/11/aleo-part1.html)
Principle of ‘Aleo’
The principle of Aleo is based on the Aleo ZEXE protocol, ZK Cloud, Aleo Studio, programming language ‘Leo’, and PoSW consensus mechanism.
1. ZEXE Protocol
Aleo is based on the ZEXE protocol. ZEXE is short for zero-knowledge execution.
The ZEXE protocol is built by upgrading the ZK-SNARK to a zero-knowledge proof(ZKP) solution.
ZK-SNARK is an abbreviation for Zero-Knowledge Succint Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge.
However, ZK-SNARK itself has a private function, but has a disadvantage of poor programming expandability. Zcash as we know it is based on ZK-SNARK technology, but Zcash is simply a cryptocurrency that can only be traded or transferred, so programmatic expansion is not possible.
However, the ZEXE protocol on which Aleo is based upgrades ZK-SNARK, ensuring programmable scalability and high transaction rates per second (TPS).
The ZEXE protocol is divided into on-chain and off-chain, processing critical data calculations off-chain and critical data calculations off-chain, and only recording the calculation results on-chain.
This means that the zero-knowledge proof is verified on-chain by creating records off-chain and validating the records again on-chain.
* On-Chain: Transactions that occur on the chain
* Off-Chain: Transactions that occur outside the main blockchain
2. ZK Cloud
ZK Cloud is an off-chain, complete computer environment.
ZK (zero-knowledge) handles a huge amount of data, and processing it on-chain reduces speed and makes transaction processing impossible. For that reason, it is processed off-chain, and at this time, an execution environment is required, which is ZK-Cloud. ZK Cloud includes SnarkOS and SnarkVM.
SnarkOS is a decentralized operating system and is used for mining, and Snark VM is Aleo’s virtual machine. And snarkVM is like Ethereum’s virtual machine, EVM.
ZK Cloud separates computation and operation to ensure high transaction per second (TPS).
In other words, Aleo goes through a data calculation process based on snarkVM in a trustless decentralized environment called ZK Cloud, and then verifies the result on-chain.
3. Aleo Studio
Aleo Studio is the first IDE based on zero-knowledge proofs.
What is an IDE here? As an abbreviation of Integrated Development Environment, it means an integrated development environment software application interface for efficient software development.
Aleo Studio provides an environment where all tasks such as code editing, compiling, debugging, etc. required in the software development process can be handled in one software.
Aleo Studio has an Aleo package manager. In simple terms, you can think of it as the same as Github’s package manager. Aleo allows managers to directly manage code and post coding tasks to the registry.
With Aleo Studio, developers can quickly discover and import new packages from their applications for use. Developers can implement everything through Aleo Studio, making Aleo Studio a one-stop service environment.
4. Aleo programming language ‘Leo’
Aleo also needs a programming language like Ethereum to program.
* Ethereum Programming language: The programming language of Solidity, Aptos and Sui is Move.
For ZKP programming, the Aleo development team has developed its own programming language ‘Leo’, which is the first ZKP programming language. The Aleo development team developed ‘Leo’ based on Rust, and having its own programming language means that the Aleo development team has technical skills that everyone can recognize.
Cryptography knowledge is essential for developers to develop with ZKP, but in the Aleo ecosystem, ZKP programming is possible without cryptography knowledge through Leo. Because of that, Aleo has a low barrier to entry and provides developers with a good development environment and root.
Leo can also greatly simplify the programming of zero-knowledge-based programs. This allows developers to seamlessly bootstrap and deploy zero-knowledge applications without cryptography knowledge. Leo’s development environment is called Aleo Playground, where developers can program.
5. PoSW Consensus Mechanism
Finally, PoSW is a consensus mechanism like PoW and a variant of the algorithm that adjusts the SHA-based difficulty of BTC, the difference being that the underlying computation is a zero-knowledge proof rather than a random hash function.
Announcement of ‘Aleo’ roadmap
Recently, Aleo has announced the roadmap many have been waiting for.
To summarize the key points of the roadmap, you can refer to the following.
✔ February: Aleo BFT Recruitment and Staking
✔ March: Start of Aleo Testnet3 Phase 3
✔ April: Network Load Testing
✔ May: End of Phase 3
✔ June: Testnet audit event and mainnet update
✔ July: Mainnet launch
Today, we organized and shared the principles and roadmap of Aleo.
The above was written with reference to the official Tenet DS blog, and for more professional information about Aleo, refer to the Tenet DS official website and official blog, it will be very helpful!
We hope that the Aleo project mainnet, which is hot worldwide, will be released as soon as possible and can be seen in Tokencan
※ Tenet DS official channel information
Official Website: https://tenetds.co.kr/
Official Naver Blog: https://blog.naver.com/tenetdatasystems
Aleo Korea Community: t.me/Aleo_Korea
※ Tokencan official channel information
Exchange official website: https://www.tokencan.com/en_US/
Official Community: t.me/TokencanEN