With blockchain adoption booming, effective scaling is essential to support this growth. While Solana is praised for its speed and scalability, the increase in the number of users requires even more robust solutions. To explore how the industry can keep pace, we spoke with Bernie Blume, the CEO and founder of Xandeum, to discuss his views on scalability in the blockchain space.
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Solving the Blockchain Storage Trilemma
With years of experience in the IT industry, Bernie has always been involved in the systems and hardware aspects of technology. As someone who enjoys solving problems deep in the basic layer of technology, he has always been fascinated by how things work and constantly looks for ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness. This led him to create a promising Solana scaling solution, Xandeum. Bernie continues the conversation by delving deeper into scaling solutions when it comes to blockchain storage specifically.
Scalability in terms of capacity became the main talking point of this discussion. This is different from the scalability aspect of speed. Solana itself does an excellent job with speed because of its unique architecture. However, when it comes to storage capacity, there is still room for improvement. The accounts are not scalable because they only store a few megabytes. Other solutions can help with this, but they do not address the other two aspects of the storage-specific trilemma, namely random access and smart contract native.
“If you look at the blockchain as a world computer, the accounts are just the RAM of that computer.”
Bernie Blume, CEO and founder of Xandeum
The potential benefit of solving this trilemma could result in Web3 versions of popular and useful Web2 apps. A Web3 Wikipedia is the example Bernie gives and is expected to become their demo app as the foundation grows. Even in this Web2 form, Wikipedia is already one of the top 10 websites in the world and has millions of contributors. Imagine bringing all that activity to an environment where decentralization and immutability are the core principles. The impact could be enormous and revolutionary for the way we access and share information.
Transfer the storage to pNodes
Elaborating on the technical capabilities of Xandeum, Bernie explains that the place where data is currently stored in Solana is not efficient and can be improved. Xandeum’s solution is to offload data storage to a distributed network called pNodes. These nodes are expected to be cheap and decentralized as anyone can use them at home.
“The first issue with storage is that the current solutions we see with today’s platforms store the data in each validator.”
Bernie Blume, CEO and founder of Xandeum
A “Cambrian explosion” (a rapid evolutionary event in the early history of life) of useful decentralized apps could be built on Xandeum if the trilemma of scalability, randomness, and proprietary smart contracts can be solved. The potential for innovation is endless and could lead to a complete change in the way we interact with technology and data. With the use of pNodes, users would have control over their own data and transactions, eliminating the need for third-party intermediaries.
Entrepreneurs building on Solana will have easy access to the data they need through these distributed pNodes, making it easier to build decentralized apps that are more secure and efficient. This could significantly lower the barrier to entry for developers looking to venture into the world of decentralized technology. With more dApps comes more use cases for blockchain technology and in turn, wider adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The launch of the $XAND token
Bernie shares that while they are not their own blockchain, they are expanding the functionality of the Solana chain. To clarify, Bernie explains that they are not an L2 for Solana, but rather focus on the storage aspect. Their token, $XAND, will serve as a governance token for the platform. This governance allows the associated DAO to set storage app fees and liquid staking pools. This encourages participation in the network and ensures that the platform remains decentralized.
This symbolic launch comes with 5 airdrops and more than 10% goes to the Xandeum team. It has powerful control over the entire ecosystem and owners of the token can participate in decision-making processes for the development and management of the platform. This level of decentralization and community involvement is crucial to the long-term success of any blockchain project.
Solana is hailed as one of the fastest and most scalable blockchain networks, with high throughput of up to 65,000 transactions per second. For this reason, Bernie believes that building on this network will greatly benefit Xandeum as they aim to handle large amounts of data and attract a wide range of users. Additionally, Solana already solves the broader blockchain trilemma of scalability, decentralization, and security, providing a strong foundation for Xandeum’s storage platform.
With Polygon and possibly Avalanche as future extensions, Xandeum’s goal is to become the storage solution for blockchain projects. This will allow them to tap into a growing market and position themselves as a leader in this space, but for now the main goal is to become Solana’s choice for storage.
Final thoughts
Xandeum ushers in a new era of decentralized storage with the launch of their platform and $XAND token. Their focus on Solana as a robust blockchain network, combined with their innovative approach to driving participation through liquid staking pools, sets them apart from other projects in the space. It will be exciting to see how Xandeum evolves as they strive to create a truly decentralized platform for storing data securely and efficiently.