An independent examiner has revealed shocking details surrounding the inner workings of Celsius – a crypto lender that filed for bankruptcy in July 2022. The examiner claimed that Celsius did not operate by the business model that it presented to customers. He likened it to a Ponzi scheme, much like FTX – a company that happened to have used the same accounting software: QuickBooks. The Truth About CEL Token Per a filing from examiner Shoba Pillay on Tuesday, Celsius had…
What Are Sidechains and How Do They Work?
A sidechain is a separate blockchain attached to a main blockchain (often referred to as the “parent” chain) via a two-way peg. The two-way peg enables assets to be transferred from the parent blockchain to the sidechain and back. In addition, sidechains allow for the creation of new features and capabilities that may not be supported on the parent chain, such as smart contracts or different consensus mechanisms.
Sidechain Benefits
There are several potential benefits of using sidechains, including:
- Scalability: Sidechains can help to alleviate scalability issues by allowing for increased transaction throughput on the parent chain.
- Flexibility: Sidechains can be customized to support different types of transactions and use cases, such as smart contracts, which may not be supported on the parent chain.
- Security: Sidechains can increase security by allowing for assets to be transferred to a sidechain for more secure storage or processing.
- Privacy: Sidechains can enable more private transactions by allowing assets to be transferred to a sidechain with enhanced privacy features.
- Interoperability: Sidechains can enable interoperability between different blockchain networks, allowing assets to be transferred between them.
- Experimentation: Sidechains can enable experimentation with new features and technologies within a secure and decentralized ecosystem.
- Cost-effective: Sidechains can be more cost-effective than building an entirely new blockchain network. This is because they can be connected to an already existing blockchain.
Sidechain Drawbacks
There are also some potential risks associated with using sidechains, including:
- Centralization: Sidechains may become centralized if a small group of individuals or entities control the majority of the assets on the sidechain.
- Security: Sidechains may be less secure than the parent chain if they are not properly secured or if a vulnerability is discovered.
- Complexity: Sidechains can be complex to set up and maintain and may not be suitable for all users.
- Lack of Adoption: Sidechains may not be widely adopted if they do not offer significant advantages over existing solutions.
- Interoperability Limitations: Sidechains may need to be fully interoperable with other blockchains or systems, limiting their usefulness.
- Dependency: If the parent chain is compromised, the dependent sidechains will also be affected.
- Regulation: Sidechains may be subject to different regulations in different jurisdictions, which can create legal and compliance challenges.
Parachains vs. Sidechains
Parachains and sidechains are both types of blockchain networks attached to a main blockchain (often referred to as the “parent” chain). However, they have some differences:
- Scale: Parachains are designed to be fully-fledged, independent blockchains that can scale to support a large number of transactions, while sidechains are typically designed to address specific scalability issues or to add specific features to the parent chain.
- Interoperability: Parachains are designed to be interoperable with other blockchains, allowing for the exchange of assets and information between them. Sidechains are designed to be interoperable with the parent chain.
- Security: Parachains are designed to be secured by the parent chain, while sidechains can be secured by the parent chain or by the native security mechanisms of the sidechain.
- Governance: Parachains usually have their governance mechanism, while sidechains follow the same governance mechanism as the parent chain.
- Architecture: Parachains are built on top of shared security provided by the parent chain, while sidechains are attached to the parent chain through a two-way peg.
Parachains are a new paradigm of blockchain scalability that allows for creating multiple independent chains secured by a main chain that can communicate with each other and be customized to suit specific needs. Finally, sidechains are separate blockchains attached to a main blockchain via a two-way peg and enable assets to be transferred from the parent blockchain to the sidechain and back, allowing for experimentation and innovation within a secure and decentralized ecosystem.
Popular Sidechains
Some popular sidechains include:
- Liquid: Developed by Blockstream, Liquid is a sidechain for Bitcoin that enables faster and more private transactions.
- RSK: Rootstock is a smart contract platform built as a sidechain to Bitcoin that aims to increase the scalability and security of the Bitcoin network.
- Polygon (MATIC): Polygon Network is a layer 2 scaling solution that uses a sidechain approach to increase the scalability of the Ethereum network.
- Plasm: Plasm Network is a layer 2 scaling solution that uses a sidechain approach to increase the scalability of the Polkadot network.
- Avalanche: Avalanche is a decentralized network of subnets called Avalanche-X that allows for creating customized sidechains with different consensus mechanisms and governance structures.
- Cosmos: Cosmos is a decentralized network of independent parallel blockchains, each powered by BFT consensus algorithms like Tendermint consensus.
- Algorand Sidechains: Algorand is an open-source, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol that allows for customizable sidechains.