Scintilla Network Whitepaper

Date: March 2024.
Authors: Alex Werner, Yggdrasil Digital.
Notes: Early preliminary paper

Abstract

Scintilla-Network demonstrates the way for a protocol under the management of a decentralized peer-to-peer consensus, that can provides scalability, instant transactions, pseudo-anonymity with reputation and DID system, and open participation.
Providing a self-unifying, self-governing structured network of various clusters provide scalability via reducing constraints on the routing node, and instead provide with segregated services in a similar maneer than a sharded network.
In this paper, we describe how we use this main aspect to draw a scalable network.

Introduction

The last decade has seen blockchains evolve significantly, marked by relentless experimentation, research, and practical implementations.
Capitalizing on this accumulated expertise, Scintilla debuts its revolutionary "sharded time chain" concept. This design merges scalability with ultra-fast transaction confirmations, all at a near-non-existent cost.

Additional community-created clusters, such as a Scintilla Exchange can further augment the strength and value of the network, integrating an Automated Market Maker (AMM) system that effortlessly connects all assets together and enabling a reactive web3.
With a bridge capability integrated, the network will then be able to integrates with other similar networks, this allows to inter-connect assets together.

In Scintilla, every asset is inherently native, eliminating the need for intermediary tokens for miner incentives. Transaction fees are directly levied from the transaction itself, streamlining operations and slashing overheads.

This scalability is achieved through a unique combination of PoW, PoS, and PoSE frameworks, delivering a consistent minute block consensus while also facilitating a nimble 3-second proof-of-work interval between blocks.

A single layer 0 consensus powers a set of infrastructure (clusters and their own P2P mesh) for applications (web2, smart-contracts,...). The base layer working as a DNS for every clusters. The nodes are incentivized to provides various routing and security operations, but instead of considering fees at transaction level, Scintilla considers them at the application layer.

Prior works

Bitcoin proposed a base proof-of-work and transaction protocol that we base heavily on.
Ethereum proposed an account-based solution for the execution of smart-contract, additional features that we use as foundational in Scintilla.

Dash later improved Bitcoin, with the implementation of Instant transaction, secured via ChainLock and a DMNL, and the Dash Platform to allow for the storage of data in a massively on-chain world.

Our participation in such above works allowed us to consider various additional protocols that this document will explore in more finer detail, with a specificity with the Cosmos ecosystem that deeply inspired the interconnectivity model for Scintilla.
Prior considerations were done toward the ERC1400 as a base for NFT securities with specific rules, and ERC3643 as a base for semi-fungible tokens, with consideration for real-life application and limitation posed by the EVM specifications.

Added effort was made in the implementation of a multi-token standard allowing for NFT, Fungible Token and semi-fungible to co-exist within a single standard and can draw its own rules and incentives.

We’ve also undergone addressing the asynchronous 3-party signature upon transfer problematic in preparation of this document and RWA Standardisation with those.

Protocol

Scintilla Network is an open-source peer-to-peer protocol network, a decentralized permissionless infrastructure that fits into the rails of regulation, with the goal of becoming the world’s largest decentralized RWA ecosystem.

Based on the Cosmos SDK, Bitcoin, Dash, and Ethereum prior works (including R&D from other project), we present a dual-layer infrastructure, where a base layer (layer-0) creates a Hub for the network. It provides a masternode/validator-based blockchain that secures a set of modules, using a inspired CometBFT system, we use a SCT token specifically for chain professional related operations (such as registering a cluster).

A set of clusters, represent a dense-tree-alike structure of modules (EVM, Identity, Token, DataStore, FileStore …), that have their own local incentivisation system and their network mesh defined by a set of miners or validators, and their own local shardability and distributability of computation needs.

This set of clusters form an network infrastrucutre layer that can then power a full-range of dapps (with retrocompatibility via EVM module) and a new economy (via a RWA Standard, that allows for primary and secondary on chain, single NFT-like or fungible, semi-fongible tokens).

While each of those clusters can produce independently from the base layer, their local state hashes (allowing for near-instant statistic finality), the fact that a elected validator can add other clusters hash than the core one, allow each validator to pin-point which cluster they want to secure, allowing for the existence of a more regulatory-aware protocol able to protect its validators from computing non-regulated data

System Architecture

Scintilla Network’s architecture is a synergy of past blockchain paradigms and groundbreaking innovations, adeptly addressing both scalability and decentralization. This harmony is actualized via a dual-node system, combining the dependable security of validators with the high-speed transaction processing of hashing nodes.

**Account-Based System: Scintilla utilizes an account-based paradigm. This design promotes streamlined transaction histories, effectively reducing data redundancy and enabling swift state transitions. In comparison to UTXOs, this approach lessens the associated complexities, with the security concerns being addressed by the dual system. The benefit of the non-fungibility of UTXOs (newly minted BTC UTXOs worth more than mixed BTC), is still made accessible via a partition-ability of tokens.

Native Asset Based: All assets are native, the fee is paid in the exchanged currency. Spam protection is achieved by leveraging the Pricing Oracle to ensure miners receive rewards of value and a system that might execute such by selling on AMM.

Beacon Chain Integration: The beacon chain, echoing Ethereum’s Phase 0, acts as the system's pulse, orchestrating validator operations and bolstering the network's finality guarantees. This also brings BLS at the core of the system, which allows for groundbreaking aggregates and signatures within a large context (multisig by all validators).

Time Chain Design: Setting Scintilla apart is its unique time chain, dictating deterministic block creation every minute. This structure underpins system efficiency and ensures impeccable synchronization.

Integrated Decentralized Naming Service (DNS) A native DNS mirrors Ethereum's ENS, offering human-readable names for wallets, sites, and beyond. Furthermore, this serves as a Decentralized Identity (DiD) service. Using official cryptographic stamps, streamlines cross-network KYC procedures. Additional reputation, records and claims can be added to facilitate Dapps when managing securities.

Data Sharing and Pruning: Nodes share data for a cohesive ledger. While data is pruned for efficiency, 2/3 of nodes act as sharded archives, preserving accessibility.

Modularity and Service Expansion: Nodes can execute additional modules or services, like chain bridges or EVM modules. Though non-mandatory, if a hashing node running such a module produces a valid HashProof accepted by validators, it legitimizes and secures that service. The more miners adopting these services, the better the security. Crucially, these 'extra' services offload the validators. Validators focus on verifying the core HashProof, while users or service consumers can independently validate the module-specific hash. This distributed workload ensures an adaptable and scalable network. Such modules can be decentralized Data Stores (IPFS alike) or Document Stores (NoSQL alike), Computation (EVM-like), or specific API integrations.

Dual-Node Consensus:

Validators (PoSE): Scintilla’s validators offer more than just consensus. Their myriad services for the community include:

Price Consensus: A decentralized oracle managed collectively to provide asset pricing. External Data Integration: Data from diverse, external sources is fetched and verified. Randomness Provision and Time Sync: Decentralized randomness and official time synchronization are also achieved. Pricing Oracle System: Managed by validators, this system offers reliable asset valuations, sourced from external data or the native AMM. Hashing Nodes (PoW): Specialized in producing 'HashProofs' every 3 seconds, these nodes capture all transactions, even those between primary blocks. Integrated AMM - Scintilla Exchange: The network's heart is the Scintilla Exchange, an embedded AMM system facilitating decentralized asset swapping without intermediary tokens. This can be the outlook of any community member, DAO funded project… Scintilla Quorum Time Consensus: Lack of central yet trustless authority; Required for nodes to agree on a unified time and propose challenge mechanism for synchronization; Provide an accurate reliable time source allow for accurate network mesh drawing and better routing within validators and hashing nodes. This would enhance network security, speed, reliance, and provide a better quorum decision aid.

Time Challenge and Quorum Synchronization: Blockchain as a NTP Service; Block emission should be exactly one per minute. Ping-pong challenge within the network mesh. Local measurement of external peers connectivity and open-communication within peer of their own network mesh and peer connectivity info. To prevent the system from being overwhelmed by superfluous time challenge requests, only valid quorum members can initiate a challenge. This minimizes the surface area for potential denial-of-service attacks.

Time Beacon: Considering the importance of time in the Scintilla network, and the sensibility of time itself within a P2P network, quorum members should serve as individual beacons, broadcasting the current time at regular intervals (e.g., every 5 seconds). This constant pulse ensures all nodes, especially those that might have drifted, have a frequent opportunity to resynchronize.

Quorum Decision Enhancement: Latency-based Decisions: Nodes with consistent high latency might be deprioritized in consensus decisions. Time Consistency Checks: Time synchronization results from challenges ensure nodes remain in sync with the network's majority.

Base layer

[...in review]

Consensus layer

Validators

Delegation

SCT

Token Economics

Ecosystem and protocol budget

Governance System

Governance Proposals

Improvement Proposal

Text Proposal

Request Feature Proposal

Funding Requests

Voting

Tallying

Application Layer

[...in review]

Consensus Layer

Network mesh

Identity Cluster

Banking Cluster

Smart-Scripts & Data Trigger

Data Cluster

RWA Token Standard

[...in review]

Conclusion

Over the past decade, the blockchain ecosystem has evolved dramatically, introducing groundbreaking concepts, refining existing architectures, and propelling the digital transformation of various sectors. Within this progressive landscape, Scintilla Network stands out as a testament to this evolution, combining lessons from past endeavors with forward-thinking solutions.

Scintilla's unique architecture, epitomized by its "clusterized time chain" concept, hybrid PoSE and PoW system, and versatile service modules, addresses many of the existing challenges that have hindered blockchain's mass adoption. It not only ensures scalability, security, and efficiency but also offers a seamless environment for asset transfer and decentralized applications.

The network's built-in exchange, pricing consensus, and the bridge system emphasize its ambition: to be a nexus point that harmoniously integrates blockchain with real-world assets, providing tangible solutions for pressing global issues, such as financial inclusion.

As we look ahead, Scintilla Network, with its dedication to innovation and community, is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the next phase of blockchain evolution. Its promise lies not just in its technical prowess but also in its vision of a decentralized, inclusive, and interconnected future.