Chainbound, a company focused on crypto research and development, has recently raised $4.6 million for its Bolt project.
Bolt Protocol Overview and Goals
The Bolt protocol aims to revolutionize Ethereum transactions by providing sub-second confirmation times through innovative preconfirmation technology. This initiative is expected to accelerate Ethereum's transaction processing and significantly enhance the user experience. Currently, Ethereum confirmation times average around seven seconds. With Bolt's preconfirmation technology, transactions can be confirmed within a second, potentially transforming user and application interactions with Ethereum. Chainbound's goal with Bolt is to create a more efficient and user-friendly Ethereum ecosystem, improving both the platform's user experience and its resistance to censorship.
How Bolt Works
Bolt operates out-of-protocol, using restaking to provide economic assurances. This design means that Bolt does not alter Ethereum's existing block production pipeline but integrates seamlessly with it. The protocol is structured to function in an optimistic failure mode, allowing proposers to breach commitments but incurring penalties for such breaches. This approach ensures the credibility of the system. The core principles of the protocol are: trustless (commitments are supported by economic assurances rather than trusted intermediaries), credible (proposers are held accountable for their commitments, with penalties for breaches), permissionless (any proposer can participate in Bolt and any user can request commitments), and compatible (designed to work with the existing PBS pipeline and will eventually be compatible with enhanced PBS (ePBS)).
The Concept of Preconfirmations
Preconfirmations are a new approach to transaction processing in Ethereum, proposed by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake. They allow transactions to receive confirmation before being added to a block, which can otherwise take from several seconds to several minutes. There are two types of preconfirmations: inclusion and state. Inclusion preconfirmations guarantee that a transaction will be included in a block if it complies with protocol rules. State preconfirmations commit to specific state transitions, significantly enhancing Ethereum's user experience. With sub-second confirmations, users can expect a more responsive and efficient blockchain experience.
Chainbound aims to accelerate the adoption of the Bolt protocol, which should lead to smoother and more efficient interactions with the Ethereum ecosystem.
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