Previously on Beam Network…
As we near the launch of the next major Beam update Groovy Gluon 7.0, it’s a great to time reflect on the road ahead with the Beam Roadmap Update. . 7.0 is a Hard Fork version which enables several key infrastructure features such as IPFS integration, High Frequency Transactions (HFTX) and Decentralized dApp store. 7.x
Continuing with expanding the Beam infrastructure the next releases in the 7.x series will add the following features and capabilities
Asset Swap
Beam blockchain supports creation of new types of Confidential Assets, ( similar to the ERC token standard on Ethereum, that can be emitted both by wallets and by smart contracts alike). All Beam wallets natively support the ability to store, send and receive all types of tokens, however it does not support the ability to exchange tokens of one type for another.
This is the purpose of the Asset Swap feature. Asset Swap is based on native Mimblewimble transactions that can both send and receive any number of different token types within a single transaction and on SBBS based offer board (similar to one used in the Atomic Swaps feature). In the first version, Asset Swaps will be atomic in nature, meaning that it would not be possible to fill a standing offer with a smaller amount. Thus this feature is not meant to be a replacement for either CEX or DEX functionality, but rather provide an additional way of confidential exchange for various token types without the need for listing or the existence of a DEX pair with sufficient liquidity.
Blockchain Explorer update
The currently deployed version of the Beam blockchain explorer is outdated and only supports the ability to view various Confidential Assets. With the addition of smart contracts it is very useful to be able to view transaction details and statistics on the contract usage, since this information is not confidential and can be seen on the blockchain.
The challenge is to organize this information in a way that would allow us to understand the underlying semantics of the various smart contract calls. Most existing blockchain explorers do not support the ability to see beyond the raw data, however in Beam we strive to improve on all aspects, especially the usability and clarity, hence as a part of this effort we will develop a standardized interface for the representation of smart contract semantics as part of the general Beam Shader infrastructure.
Shader SDK
Beam Virtual Machine runs WebAssembly and thus supports any programming language that can be compiled into WASM as valid for development of smart contracts on the Beam chain. Having said that, BVM has a unique architecture that requires a steep learning curve to master. Beam Shader SDK serves a purpose of simplifying this task by providing structure, tools and relevant boilerplate code as well as documented code samples for developers.
Starting with 7.0 upgrade it is also possible to distribute Beam dApps through a decentralized store that does not require any website or third party servers to host and allow completely anonymous distribution. To use this method, dApps need to be properly packaged using the tools provided by an SDK as well.
BeamX and Confidential DeFi
Immediately following the release of 7.0, Beam will start launching the dApps that use the new infrastructure provided by the blockchain
BeamX DAO On-chain voting
As a next step in the BeamX DAO development, the on-chain voting app will allow BeamX governance by staking the $BEAMX governance tokens and participating in the voting cycles. The voting dApp is an important step in the DAO roadmap toward becoming the main and only governing body of the Beam ecosystem.
NFT Gallery V2
What started as a Halloween competition has quickly become one of the most popular DAppson Beam and the second version delivers a major upgrade to the amazing domain of confidential NFT trading. Key features of the upcoming major overhaul of the NFT Gallery dApp include the ability to host NFT collectionson the IPFS network, minting, collection management, royalties and much more.
Beam Confidential Naming Service
The ability to own a short and possibly vanity name that is mapped to your address has become extremely popular on Ethereum in the form of naming services such as Ethereum Naming Service (ENS). Namine Services also makes it easy for anyone to view a user’s holdings, giving up on the already very limited anonymity of the pseudonymous address scheme on traditional blockchains.
Beam, being a layer one privacy blockchain with smart contract support can significantly improve on this by providing a naming service that does not allow senders or any onlookers to view the holdings of any address except their own transactions… For this purpose Beam will deploy a confidential naming service DApp and later integrate it natively into Beam wallets.
Hearty Hadron 8.0: EVM Sidechains
Due to the popularity of Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and Solidity as the main implementation language for smart contracts in Ethereum and other EVM compatible blockchains, Beam will add EVM support in the next major upgrade expected to arrive towards the end of the year 2022. This will allow simple porting of existing DeFi, NFT and other types of decentralized application into the Confidential DeFi ecosystem running on top of Beam Network.
Since in most cases, scalability in terms of Transaction Per Second (TPS) is essential, Beam will provide a sidechain based layer 2 architecture (technical details are still being discussed and debated) to host EVM and BVM based dApps alike. Sidechains will be natively bridged to the main chain using a completely decentralized bridge infrastructure.