IOTA Announces Chrysalis Update Ahead of Coordicide


The IOTA project has presented a series of updates called Chrysalis, an intermediate phase between now and the removal of the Coordinator. IOTA Chrysalis Update will modify the long-standing IOTA principles. However, the update introduces several important features.

05 February, 2020 | AtoZ Markets – Coordicide is a long-term initiative that requires extensive academic support to complete. According to IOTA Co-founder Dominik Schiener, Chrysalis is the intermediate stage before unleashing the full potential of IOTA through Coordicide. Many of the features have long been discussed, and the team has finally reached an internal agreement on the strategy. It will adopt the main IOTA protocol. Some of the changes are more radical.

The Upcoming Incremental Upgrades to the Network Under Chrysalis

IOTA has planned for an intermediate update called Chrysalis. The Chrysalis, or IOTA 1.5, was particularly designed as an intermediate step before "Coordicide." Coordicide is a long-planned initiative to remove the Coordinator from the IOTA network. The Coordinator is a centralized server managed by IOTA developers that creates checkpoints in its transaction history. It is a necessity due to the unique blockchain-less structure used by the project.

IOTA said validators and users are the same things. There is no stubborn clash of incentives, which means a much easier path for improving the network. The next incremental network updates under Chrysalis also includes:

  • White flag approach·
  • New algorithm for selecting milestones for the Coordinator
  • New selection of URTS tips
  • Support for a new signature system
  • Atomic transactions
  • Switch to the UTXO model
  • Switch to an internal binary representation of the trinity transaction.

Details of the Incremental Network Updates

White flag approach is for calculating balances. It is at a simpler and more conflicting approach (valid for the pre-coordicide era). It improves the speed and efficiency of the selection of the tips, eliminates some attacks and significantly reduces the need for reattachments.

A new algorithm is for selecting milestones for the Coordinator. It focused on allowing the network to support as much CTPS as possible, with greater calculation efficiency. New selection of URTS tips in the node software is also significantly faster and more efficient than the current approach.

The updates feature support for a new signature scheme parallel to WOTS. The network will allow both one-off quantum-resistant signatures and a more commonly used signature scheme that allows the reuse of private keys.

Atomic transactions mean moving away from the current construction of the Bundle and using simpler atomic transactions. It will reduce the network overhead, reduce the burden of verifying signatures, improve spam protection and congestion control, and reduce the length of Merkle proofs (for future sharding).

The updates switch to the UTXO model from the current scale model. Each coin on an address is uniquely identifiable and each expense names the exact coins it wants to move. It also allows for faster and more accurate conflict management and improves protocol resilience and security.

The updates switch to an internal binary representation of the trinity transaction. It also allows working on binary data, for validation, IO and other processing. However, it doesn't need to have many binary-ternary conversions as in the current node software.

Read More: Ethereum Completes Formal Verification and Audit Bytecode

IOTA Chrysalis Update Roadmap

Schiener stressed that Chrysalis is not a delay in the IOTA Coordicide roadmap. It focuses primarily on improving the transactional performance of the project's core network. "All of this has the goal of making IOTA ready for the business," he added.

The current roadmap shows that Chrysalis will be completed by the end of the Q3, although Schiener said that late Q2 is also possible. He also revealed some information on a possible roadmap for Coordicide:

"Coordicide is well underway, with the first Alphanet of Coordicide launched yesterday. Currently, we are working with more than three universities on Coordicide. They are helping us to accelerate the optimization of some aspects of Coordicide and the validation of all the work itself."

However, specific dates are not yet available. But the launch of the incentive testnet in the summer will help define a concrete timeline, he added.

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