Blockchain comparison: DMDv4 vs. Ethereum
Ethereum remains the biggest dApp platform out there, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the best. Quite the contrary: with gas fees exceeding $20 at times and just ~20 tps, it’s slow and expensive. In this article, we’ll explain how DMDv4 differs from Ethereum and why it will be a better choice for many dApps.
Consensus
Ethereum is inching towards Proof-of-Stake with its Beacon Chain and Eth 2.0 staking, but now it’s still a Proof-of-Work blockchain, slow and wasteful. And while Vitalik Buterin is now pushing for a ‘quick merge’ scheme, in which the current version of Ethereum would be attached to the Beacon Chain (perhaps even this October), it will still be a competitive consensus model, and competition between validators invariably leads to wasted resources.
DMDv4 holds a huge advantage here: our consensus is originally designed as cooperative, not competitive. We use the Honey Badger Byzantine Fault Tolerant (HBBFT) protocol in combination with a validator election mechanics, whereas 25 validators are chosen from the pool of candidates every epoch (12 hours). There is no mining, but also no risk that the validators with the biggest stake will gobble up all the rewards, as it happens in most PoS networks. You can read more about our consensus algorithm in the White Paper.
Speed, fees, & efficiency
Thanks to the HBBFT cooperative consensus, DMDv4 achieves a throughput of at least 400 transactions per second or even higher, at negligible fees. Ethereum in its current form can process only about 20 transactions per second, and while the average transaction fee has gone down from $20 to $4, it’s still prohibitively high to power an ecosystem where most payments are essentially microtransactions.
DMDv4 isn’t just cheaper and faster than Ethereum; it’s also far more energy-efficient. You might have heard that the energy used by Bitcoin mining could power a whole country, and PoW-based Ethereum isn’t far behind. But even after a transition to PoS, it will still consume lots of energy. For instance, CoinDesk recently reported that the CPU usage of its own Eth 2.0 validator, Zelda, doubled in March, resulting in increased electricity use. By contrast, HBBFT only requires a minimal amount of energy.
Another advantage of the DMDv4 solution in terms of efficiency is that it guarantees block finality. Once a block is signed by the validators, it’s final, and the transactions in it are confirmed. There is no set block time: a new one can begin to be formed immediately (1 sec) after the previous one. There can be no forks, no orphan blocks, and no empty blocks (if there are no transactions for 10 minutes, the system will generate a tiny heartbeat block to make ecosystem participants (explorers ,exchanges, node operators …) see everything is fine).
Abandoned coins
We’ve written about the problem of lost crypto coins: it’s estimated that 20% of all existing Bitcoins are irretrievably lost. On the surface, it might seem that lost coins shouldn’t be a problem for Ethereum, whose supply is uncapped. Remember, however, that mining ether (or minting Eth 2.0) requires energy, so every coin that’s abandoned means wasted resources.
Opposite to ETH, DMDv4 is very scarce, having a tight maximum supply of just 4.38 million DMD. To prevent any damage from coin abandonment, we have developed an ingenious system of constant reinsertion of abandoned or not claimed coins through a set of pots, or vaults. Any DMD that isn’t claimed (after 5 years) or that is staked on an inactive validator (after 10 years) will be eventually returned into circulation.
The mechanism is self-sustaining and will work indefinitely, making sure that there’s always enough DMD ‘fuel’ to power all the dApps that will be built on DMDv4. You can read more about it in this blog article.
Interoperability
Ethereum isn’t interoperable with any other blockchain by design because of its first-mover position. However, as more efficient solutions emerge (such as DMDv4), developers might decide to migrate from Ethereum, so good interoperability functionality is essential. DMDv4 excels in this area: we support EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) and the Solidity language, while Open Ethereum Client is included as part of the software package. Any dApp created for Ethereum can be easily moved to DMDv4.
Moreover, DMDv4 will feature a set of Interoperability Bridges to allow the transfer of value between our blockchain and others.
DMD was first launched in 2013, making it a much older project than Ethereum. DMDv4 is the most ambitious step in the evolution of DMD so far: the new blockchain was designed using the best industry practices with the addition of some unique innovations. You can learn more about HBBFT, validator selection and staking, voting, rewards, coin reinsertion, and other cool features of our network from the White Paper. Join our Telegram group for news and updates: https://t.me/dmd_coin/60 .
