Over Protocol: A Simplified Guide to Over’s Whitepaper
Table of Contents
- Overview of Over Protocol.
- How is Over making home staking possible?
- Ethanos technology in Over Protocol.
- Consensus Mechanism
- Conclusion
Let’s get right into it!
Over is a blockchain protocol that solves the issue of participation in the Blockchain ecosystem by providing lightweight nodes. Nodes are computers or devices connected to a blockchain network.
These nodes play an important role in securing the network as they communicate with other nodes, confirm transactions and ensure optimal operations.
To run a node on popular blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum etc, specific computing resources are required. However, most of these requirements are not accessible to everyone thereby creating barriers to entry.
Let’s take a close look at some of the minimum requirements for a full Bitcoin node according to the documentation.
- A Desktop or laptop hardware running recent versions of Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.
- 7 GB of free disk space, accessible at a minimum read/write speed of 100 MB/s.
- 2GB of memory (RAM).
- A broadband Internet connection with upload speeds of at least 400 kilobits (50 kilobytes) per second.
- An unmetered connection, one with a high upload limit. Sometimes, 200 GB can be used to upload for a month.
These requirements can be quite challenging for the average crypto enthusiast to meet. Over protocol came up with a solution called home staking, that allows you to run lightweight nodes from the comfort of your home. This is achieved by using Ethanos, a technology used to restructure data on the network.
How is Over Making Participation in The Blockchain Ecosystem Easier?
Let’s take it from the top.
What’s a blockchain?
In simple terms, it is a digital ledger used to store information. It can also be defined as a chain of blocks containing information about transactions. Within a blockchain, there are two types of data present.
- State
- History
The State contains important details such as nonce, balance, code, and storage. It represents the current status of the account and is essential for creating new blocks.
On the other hand, History can be likened to a blockchain archive, where information about past transactions is stored. This part is not important for creating new blocks.
As the number of transactions and activities grows on the blockchain; it becomes larger and consumes space on a node.
To address the issue of space, the data is divided into two categories: essential and non-essential.
- The state is further divided into active and inactive states
- while the history is divided into recent and older history.
Essential data comprises active states and recent history and non-essential data comprises inactive states and older history.
Since the active states and recent history are all a node needs to maintain. Over creates a new layer termed the Over Layer where essential data are stored and the Nether Layer, where non-essential data are stored.
The reorganization of blockchain data in the Over protocol reduces the size of data on a node. Due to the reduced size of data, nodes of lesser storage capacity can join the process of verifying transactions and keeping the network safe.
Ethanos: An Efficient Mechanism for Managing Data on Over.
Ethanos is the technology Over adopted to help with data size management between the Over and the Nether Layer.
It keeps the data size constant no matter how many transactions are performed on the protocol. Ethanos cuts back older data, which is no longer relevant to ongoing blockchain consensus, and relocates it to the Nether Layer.
Aside from the storage size, it simplifies the process for more nodes to join the network.
Consensus Mechanism used in Over
Proof of stake(PoS) is the mechanism used to reach an agreement amongst nodes.
In this process, a validator locks a certain amount of Over tokens as collateral and approves blocks that contain accurate information.
When this is done honestly, the validator is making the network secure by ensuring only the correct data is documented. Such a validator is then rewarded with Over tokens. If done wrongly, the collateral is lost.
Requirements to become a Validator on Over
- You need to stake at least 256 Over tokens as collateral.
- You must have at least 70% uptime.
- A stable network.
Conclusion
By using Ethanos, Over Protocol enables node operations to run on more accessible devices, enhancing the decentralization process, and ensuring more people can take part in securing the network.
The network also equips validators with easy-to-use mobile applications to make the job easier. That way you enjoy a new lifestyle of home staking with Over.
To get more details about Over protocol. You can visit the Website, or Discord. There’s also an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on YouTube on the 5th of October by 11:00 a.m. UTC.
Further Resources
