When we started ProximaX earlier in 2018, our goal was to make a positive impact in the technology space by designing a robust, performant, and flexible platform which can be used to build high value and mission-critical applications. We developed a platform to fuse together different decentralized technologies with a distributed ledger technology (Sirius Chain) at its core. 

These decentralized technologies are the Sirius storage, Sirius streaming and Supercontract. Sirius storage is a distributed file management system for storing massive amounts of data in an autonomous and permissionless network using modern encryption and verification techniques.  Sirius streaming is a decentralized streaming platform for transmitting data from multiple sets of an autonomous network in a secure and fault-tolerant manner. Supercontracts is an enhanced smart contract engine for developers to build code for any application. These applications are executed in a decentralized/consensus-driven selection process. At the heart of all of this is the Sirius Chain, a distributed ledger technology a.k.a blockchain that binds all these components through utility, value, and data store. 

The entire design and development of the core components of our platform was completed between 2018 and 2019. We have made significant progress in each of these components with our team building and hammering away to ensure the correctness of the platform’s implementation. We have done tremendous due diligence in our deliverable process from quality assurance, automated build, deployments, and extensive unit tests.

Key platform technology milestones

In early 2019, we drew up and broke down the design for each component. Our design was verified through extensive research and experimentation. 

For the Sirius chain, we chose the Catapult blockchain because of its plugin mechanism, which allows us to custom-build transaction types to facilitate the exchange of utility and value tokenization for the platform’s ecosystems. We introduced storage and streaming plugins/transaction types along with an internal exchange mechanism into the Sirius chain. We extended the Proof of Stake consensus to include Proof of Greed in order to create a fair distribution of reputation across the blockchain ecosystem. We also added additional transactions/plugins such as metadata to allow developers to extend namespace, mosaics, and accounts data. Another plugin was the abstracted contract object used for Supercontract extensions. Finally, we added a software upgrade mechanism for the platform’s core to introduce future-proof improvements, such as fast-finality consensus and re-writing the REST API from Javascript to Golang. 

Key tech milestones for Sirius Chain:

• Introduced metadata extensions for account, namespace, and mosaics.
• Introduced upgrade mechanism to allow server code upgrades without breaking the chain.
• Introduced utility tokens such as storage, streaming, review and Supercontracts (SO, SM, RW and SC).
• Introduced internal mosaics exchange mechanism — Decentralized Exchange — DEX.
• Launched testnet and mainnet.
• Developed Sirius Chain Software Development Kits.
• Onboarded Sirius Chain Validator for test network and main network.
• Designed Sirius Chain / Cosmos / IBC integration.

Sirius storage is an entirely new file management system which we built using modern networking libraries with our added functional flavor.

The core file management system of sirius storage relies on content-addressable storage to uniquely identify files. This same technique is used to implement the internal content version management system and deduplication – a technique of eliminating redundant data.

We introduced command-line tools and https/api libraries to allow clients to interact with the storage network. At the core, we implemented an existing Proof of Data Possession and Proof of Replication consensus into the network selection and reputation process. We built a cross-block protocol for peer-to-peer binary block/shard verification process. 

Key tech milestones for Sirius storage:

• Introduced external economy to allow utility to be represented on Sirius chain for storage capabilities.
• Designed and implemented drive functions to allow initialization and staging of directories and files on the drive.
• Designed and implemented replication and verification schemes, both of which are crucial to the ecosystem for a trustless storage network.
• Designed and completed exchange market (internal mosaic exchange) specifically for storage free-market protocol.
• Designed and implemented challenge scheme for Proof of Data Possession and Replication.
• Designed and completed the cross-block and fair-streaming protocol.

Supercontracts is an extension of Sirius chain for building executable code that can run on a decentralized execution environment. In modern blockchain platforms, a smart contract code is stored in the blockchain itself. This approach has its pros and cons. It makes the smart contract a part of the blockchain with an address for easy on-chain actions. The drawback is the immutability of the contract’s source code as well as bloating the chain. The DApp can’t stop working, because its code is always available on the blockchain for all nodes. To avoid this, some blockchains use workarounds for updates and offboarding (like the «delegate calls» and regular access to external resources). We offer a more functional solution to this problem using the possibilities of the ProximaX ecosystem.

Supercontract source code is stored on Drive. The DApp developer creates a Drive Storage Contract and uploads the Supercontract code to the Drive. This means that the code is stored in a distributed manner and the problem of offboarding has a solution: when the Drive Storage Contract expires, the source code of the Supercontract and the DApp become unavailable as Replicators will delete these Supercontract files (the source code and results).

Key tech milestones for Supercontracts:

• Designed and implemented basic functionality such as a complete template lifecycle of the contract.
• Rust Software Development Kit.
• Abstract contract object on Sirius chain.
• Supercontract lifecycle implementation.

Platform Tools

Complementary tools were built for:

• Web, desktop, and mobile Sirius wallets. 
• Sirius chain Explorer.
• Sirius chain Faucet.
• Sirius storage and streaming contract explorer.
• Sirius chain account explorer.

MainstreamApps on Top

Aside from the core platform development, we’ve been working to build mainstream applications to run on the infratructure. We have made several innovative applications that focus on data security and integrity, such as self-sovereign identity, a new approach and more effective solution to central security depository, an exchange, a streaming platform, a document signature app, and a fiat e-wallet app. 

Platform Technology Training

Training and education is also a key focal point of our efforts. We’ve started to write training materials targetted to different audiences. 

• Blockchain/ProximaX 101 for beginners who want an introduction to the technology and the platform.
• ProximaX Integration — Solution Design.
• ProximaX for Business.
• ProximaX Infrastructure.

We’ve achieved significant milestones in the year 2019, and with the completion of the entire platform well in our sights, we are motivated more than ever to push things further into the year 2020 and beyond!