FAQ

Dandelion is an open, secure and resilient computation platform. This means that any code run on Dandelion is guaranteed to execute as written (secure), that the platform will keep working even in the face of large-scale failures in the machines that make it up (resilient), and that anyone can use it without permission (open). In short, Dandelion provides the power of distributed trust—you can trust the network, without trusting anyone on the network.

Dandelions are resilient and global, which fits for our network.

Dandelion is built on the heritage of Bitcoin’s original blockchain concept and Ethereum’s open computation. Having made a number of major architectural, cryptographic and methodological innovations, Dandelion is the next stage in the evolution of these visionary platforms.

Distributed Trust is a property possessed by distributed networks with certain characteristics such that the network will operate as intended even if some of its composites are untrustworthy. This means that it is resilient to failures and secure against exploits. To achieve Distributed Trust, the components must be independent of each other and this suggests that the network has to be open (i.e., anyone can join).

As systems have grown more complex and connected, we have come to rely on them more and more. Our interconnectedness will continue to grow and, with it, our technological complexity. Together, complexity and reliant connectivity make our everyday systems dangerously vulnerable to failures and attacks. Hacks and crashes worldwide already cost over a trillion dollars each year. Dandelion dramatically reduces these vulnerabilities. Anyone can deploy and run code which is both fully transparent and is guaranteed to execute as written. Coders still have to write their code correctly, but noone can exploit the underlying system to make it run incorrectly or maliciously.

We have barely scratched the surface. A simple transaction is the necessary first step in any trustable computation, as was pioneered by Bitcoin and Ethereum. But, like most early stages of innovation, early systems have proven generally slow, expensive, and hard to build on, so simple transactions became the preferred application. However a transaction is just a specific type of computation. Dandelion still does transactions, at tap-and-pay speed on a global scale, but it enables coding on much more complex levels, making trustable computation so efficient that transactions are just the beginning. Dandelion can run fully encrypted messaging, operate social media and networks, automate trading systems and markets, support distributed wireless networks, provide artist-driven content delivery without middlemen, and so much more. These are just a few of the projects our Partners are solving with Dandelion, but the possibilities are endless.

“Ludicrous speed”. On a 5G phone and an open network, Dandelion globally finalizes a tap-and-pay transaction in under a second. On a federated Dandelion network, this is even faster. On just one shard of the network, the network handles over a quarter million of those transactions every second, on ordinary desktop servers with good bandwidth. More importantly, the Dandelion network scales smoothly with technology. This is an important distinction from systems like Bitcoin, which are built to burn computing power for security and so must use “Layer 2” solutions that inevitably compromise security for speed. Dandelion doesn’t use a Layer 2 because it is already faster on its Layer 1 than all existing Layer 2s. Moreover, Layer 2s are designed to support scale; Dandelion has built-in scalability through its sharding method.

Imagine eight billion people doing all the transactions they want and running whatever trust-guaranteed applications they want. In order to achieve this goal, the trust platform they use must be able to scale to hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions of transactions, every second.

No. Proof of Work (“PoW”) is extremely energy-intensive and many concerns about the environmental impact of PoW have emerged. Dandelion was designed to provide trusted computing without environmental impact.

No. Proof-of-Stake empowers a set of “stakeholders” to manage the network’s trustworthiness. Which is okay, as long as you trust the stakeholders. Historically, this has always resulted in economic inflation, which is bad for everyone who isn’t a stakeholder. Worse, under Proof of Stake, bigger stakeholders gain more rewards than smaller ones. As a result, network stake power concentrates, and distributed trust is lost. To illustrate, the day after Ethereum’s Merge, 60% of staking power was controlled by six major exchanges.

Yes, Dandelion’s source code will be released on main-net launch. Anyone will be able to download it, run a node, and modify it as they like.

The Dandelion Network provides trustable computation which is enabled by the exchange of cryptographic utility tokens. These tokens let you use this resource, the same way bus tokens let you ride the bus. Tokens are consumed when used and new tokens are earned by network nodes in return for the work they do for users. The dynamics are designed to encourage adoption and use, while growing the supply to a stable level.

Yes! Dandelion’s mobile client is designed around the end-user experience and allow people to transact smoothly IRL.

Yes! Trustable Computing begins with Smart Contracts, and on Dandelion they will be fast, efficient and, most important they will fairly order transactions. On Dandelion, we integrate several differences from other Smart Contracts, including the use of a WASM (Web Assembly) virtual machine.

Clients pay a fee for each transaction. Simultaneously, the nodes which participate in finalization are paid a reward. Note that the fee is paid and the reward is granted at the same time, but are not necessarily the same amount. This allows the network to automatically adjust the utility token supply to demand. This supply-demand model is designed to reduce volatility as the network grows.