An Interview With Nibiru Chain

The Nibiru blockchain is a general-purpose layer-1 with superior throughput potentially exceeding 40,000 TPS, unparalleled security through Wasm smart contracts, and a high-performance Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) execution layer, In an exclusive interview with BitcoinWorld, We discussed what is its Nibiru Chain is all About. 

Can you briefly explain what Nibiru Chain is and what makes it stand out in the crowded field of Layer 1 blockchains?

As the demand for fast, low-cost transactions keeps increasing, a comprehensive, forward-looking approach is necessary. Nibiru Chain is engineered to meet the growing demand for fast, scalable, and versatile blockchain solutions crucial for mainstream adoption of Web3 technologies.

The Nibiru blockchain is a general-purpose layer-1 with superior throughput potentially exceeding 40,000 TPS, unparalleled security through Wasm smart contracts, and a high-performance Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) execution layer. Nibiru EVM goes beyond the basic implementations of Ethereum with enhancements that enable developers to create more efficient, scalable, and powerful smart contract applications.

We are setting a new standard for blockchain ecosystems with a focus on being the most accessible platform for developers and the most intuitive for users. Nibiru is poised to become the de-facto hub for demanding consumer applications. Nibiru is not just a blockchain but a comprehensive ecosystem designed to optimize across a multitude of layers, including dApp development, scalable blockchain data indexing, consensus optimizations, an extensive developer toolkit, and composability across multiple execution environments. 

Nibiru boasts an impressive capability of 40,000 transactions per second and enhanced security features. How is this achieved, and what technologies are key to this performance?

We’re actively exploring a combination of technologies to allow for high L1 performance — from parallel optimistic execution and CosmWasm smart contracts to our optimized EVM execution layer. This EVM adaptation is particularly significant as it implements Ethereum transactions as individual messages within a single Nibiru transaction. This design allows multiple Ethereum transactions to be included efficiently in one Nibiru transaction, potentially surpassing the scaling capabilities of even Ethereum’s Layer 2 solutions.

To achieve the transaction throughput capabilities, Nibiru’s node software includes adjustments to allow validator nodes to have shorter delays between actions in the consensus process without risking network instability, jailing, or slashing. By default, most networks built with the Cosmos-SDK like Terra, Osmosis, and the Cosmos Hub have 10,000 theoretical TPS based on benchmarks from the Tendermint Core whitepaper. We found from looking at these networks where mainnet block times are around 6 seconds, that about 5 seconds of this period is essentially idle time waiting on peer-to-peer communication between nodes. Oftentimes, nodes have already reached consensus and are simply waiting before the block is committed, but the actual processing of transactions and block validation takes significantly less than 6 seconds.

With Nibiru’s improvements, we’ve brought the block times between down at or below 2 seconds without making the block memory size smaller, increasing the TPS significantly. This is all running right now on mainnet even without parallelization.

This year, Nibiru will also upgrade to allow for parallel optimistic execution. That will be analogous to converting the chain from a single-lane road into a multi-lane expressway in which transactions, like vehicles, navigate alongside each other. This approach not only eliminates transaction delays and sky-high fees but also engenders innovative, complex, and responsive applications. This is a key factor in achieving high TPS.

You aim to be the most developer-friendly and user-friendly ecosystem. What features or tools does Nibiru provide to achieve this goal?

For developers, we offer a set of tools and frameworks: including software development kits (SDKs) in popular programming languages used in Web3, such as TypeScript, Rust, Golang, and Python. These tools are designed to streamline and accelerate creating and deploying dApps on our platform.

Just recently, we announced Nibiru Builder Grants to fuel our developer ecosystem by allocating more than $15 million in grants, equivalent to ~2.5% of token supply as of April 2024. Embedded within that initiative is a $5 million grant allocation dedicated to Asia.

Additionally, Nibiru EVM allows for easy integration and migration from the Ethereum ecosystem, helping projects transition smoothly to Nibiru. The inclusion of familiar tooling such as Solidity, Truffle, Remix, and Metamask, combined with the scalability and faster finality of our platform, greatly lowers the barrier to entry for developers. Following the upgrade to enable Nibiru EVM on mainnet, teams will be able to leverage precompiles to interact with core Nibiru functionality and seamlessly compose between other EVM-compatible environments.

Our web application will also integrate numerous decentralized applications (dApps) dApps across real-world assets (RWA), DeFi, gaming and more.

Could you discuss some of the innovative dApps within the Nibiru ecosystem and their expected impact on the market?

Nibiru’s ecosystem is home to various dApps that are poised to revolutionize their respective markets.

Coded Estate is one example, democratizing opportunities for retail investors in the $288 trillion real estate market. They are introducing a whole new level of liquidity and flexibility to the real estate investment space. Coded Estate has already raised $375k at a $12.5M valuation to enable retail investors to earn 8% APY on tokenized real estate without requiring changes to existing infrastructure — the success of their first fractionalized real estate pools, which were fully funded in just two hours with over 26,000 claimants and 81 million tokens, demonstrates strong demands for accessible and lucrative real estate investment opportunities.

Another project we’re most excited about is Euclid, a modular, accessible, and unified liquidity layer. Euclid uses a novel approach to shared state across multiple DEXs, whether on the same or on different blockchains, and enables them to function as one application. In effect, Euclid liquidity is transforming the zero-sum nature of DeFi into a positive-sum game, where projects can synergize and scale together instead of only competing. This synergy enables collective advancements and competitive advantages that can surpass established DeFi giants.

Euclid may be one of the first projects to properly utilize Inter-Blockchain Composability (IBC) beyond mere token bridging. Euclid, Skip Protocol, and Nibiru in combination are poised to bring to life the capabilities of the Cosmos-SDK tech stack in achieving practical, horizontal scalability.

How does Nibiru Chain integrate with and benefit from being part of the Cosmos ecosystem and using the IBC protocol?

One significant benefit is interoperability enabled by the IBC protocol. By leveraging IBC, we are able to securely and efficiently interact with other layer-1 blockchains within Cosmos. This cross-chain communication is essential for facilitating censorship-resistant fund transfers, cross-chain computation, and seamless transmission of various data forms between different blockchain ecosystems.

Moreover, it grants developers the flexibility to customize our technology stack according to their specific needs and objectives. This was a major factor in our decision to launch Nibiru as an IBC chain despite the abundance of more mature DeFi landscapes on other networks. By opting for a bespoke solution within the Cosmos ecosystem, Nibiru Chain can optimize for performance, security, and scalability to better serve users and developers alike.

This plays a pivotal role in our broader vision of a unified blockchain ecosystem.

In March 2024, Nibiru announced several partnerships, including those with Hypersign and Chess3. What are the expected outcomes of these collaborations?

Nibiru ecosystem is using Hypersign and NibID for Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) technology to provide sophisticated KYC and Proof-of-Personhood tools. This approach ensures sensitive data remains protected while verification is under process. Through our partnership with Hypersign, we are creating a robust framework that ensures compliance with regulatory standards. This caters to developers and dApps requiring advanced KYC solutions.

Through our partnership with Chess3 — on the other hand — we are aligning perfectly with their vision for a cohesive cross-vertical entertainment ecosystem. Together, they plan to tap into the gaming market valued at $320 billion, the cosmetics market worth $50 billion, and the $2.2 billion tournaments market.

The expected outcomes of these partnerships include improved security and compliance, increased user trust, enhanced user experiences, and the expansion of Web3 into new communities and markets.

With recent partnerships with cybersecurity firms like HAPI and Halborn, how does Nibiru ensure the security of its network and users?

We want developers to build with confidence, knowing that their dApps are always protected. Users should be able to interact with dApps building on Nibiru with peace of mind. That’s why we take a proactive approach to provide a safe and trustworthy environment for all stakeholders involved – as evidenced by our recent strategic partnerships with various web3 security companies like HAPI and Halborn.

Nibiru’s integration with HAPI brings its security solutions to our ecosystem. Such as digital identity management, compliance measures and transaction detailing. Their automated token smart contract audits further play a crucial role in ensuring the integrity and security of dApps, thereby eliminating risks posed by smart contract vulnerabilities and potential exploits. But our alignment goes much beyond: to further create a vigilant security culture within Nibiru ecosystem — by incentivizing the community to report bad actors by offering rewards.

Similarly we ensure safety of user funds through Halborn’s additional layer of security to prevent network attacks and phishing attempts. Plus, developers within Nibiru’s network benefit from exclusive discounts on Halborn’s services around: security architecture assessments, code audits, smart contract auditing, blockchain protocol security assessment, penetration testing and more.

Following your recent successful funding rounds and community sales, what are the next steps in Nibiru’s growth strategy?

As part of Nibiru’s Builder Grants initiative, we will distribute over $15 million in tokens among community builders — with $5 million dedicated specifically to Asia. This initiative will supplement ongoing aid in partnership pairings and access to mentors, industry experts and experienced developers. It will also allow Nibiru to actively elevate the visibility of ecosystem projects through dedicated marketing support.

Our grants program will operate on a milestone basis alongside key performance indicators, ensuring developers’ engagement and sustainability towards the overall chain. Ecosystem partners will also gain access to Nibiru’s VCs — including Tribe Capital, ArkStream, NGC Ventures, Master Ventures and others — which may offer venture funding opportunities and support to the most promising projects.

In addition, Nibiru will host ongoing hackathons with prize pools of up to $100,000 per event, offering accelerator opportunities in numerous dApp categories — including RWA tokenization, Web3 gaming, DeFi, SocialFi and others. We will also introduce an innovative reward mechanism that allows developers to earn a portion of transaction fees (gas) every time their smart contracts are executed — creating a positive feedback loop that invests in bright individuals shaping the network to propel Nibiru’s growth.

Looking ahead, Nibiru plans to introduce even more reward structures based on metrics like Total Value Locked (TVL) — further enhancing the potential for projects to be self-sustaining, receiving a clear line of sight to cash flow from pure development efforts. We will offer referrals, discounts and priority access to a network of auditors, legal firms, accountants and market makers, as well as introductions to accelerators and VC funds — essentially, everything a developer team needs to go from ideation to inception.

What can users and developers look forward to in the coming months? Are there any major updates or features in the pipeline?

In early 2024, Nibiru Chain set its sights on expanding the ecosystem. Key developments included initiatives like the first two airdrop campaigns, integration with major liquidity centers like Etheruem, Avalanche, Solana, and Eth-L2s, and listings on several top-tier centralized exchanges.

The rest of the year is centered around two large releases: (1) Nibiru EVM and (2) Parallel optimistic execution. These upgrades bring about a few significant changes for users and developers of the chain: Seamless compatibility with Ethereum tooling due to the EVM bytecode compatibility, a modular and high-performance EVM execution environment that can interact with Wasm VM smart contracts, and the Ethereum RPC API users are familiar with in other dApps and block explorers. Parallel execution will take everything to the next level by further increasing Nibiru’s potential to scale.

These releases will mark major milestones in Nibiru’s journey towards a user and developer-centric platform. The community can anticipate the launch of several new dApps, supported by a few foundation-built DeFi applications.

For new developers interested in building on Nibiru, what advice would you give them, and where should they start?

We recommend exploring our comprehensive suite of developer tools: Web3 Software Development Kits (SDKs), Nibi-Indexer, Nibi-Oracle and flexible execution environments in both Wasm VM and EVM. 

Web3 SDKs are available in modern programming languages like TypeScript, Golang, Python and Rust. Nibi-Indexer allows for reliable on-chain data for analyzing smart contracts and transactions, while Rust SDK is specific to smart contract development. Nibiru also has an Unreal Engine SDK for gaming projects and smart contract interface for leveraging zero knowledge proofs via “Reclaim”.

Nibiru is currently hosting a hackathon from April 20th, 2024 until June 9th, 2024. This includes several workshops and could be a great opportunity to get started building. The core contributors to the chain are also easily accessible for builders to reach out directly for guidance via our contact page.

Lastly, there’s the Nibiru Builder Grants initiative. To learn about how to apply, simply google “nibiru grants” and the official page should be the first result that comes up.

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