Proxima - a DAG-based cooperative distributed ledger

[lunfardo314]

Proxima

Proxima presents a novel architecture for L1 distributed ledger commonly known as blockchain.
The ledger of Proxima is organized in the form of directed acyclic graph (DAG) with programmable UTXO transactions as vertices, rather than as a chain of blocks.
It uses a novel cooperative consensus on a DAG which is completely permissionless.

Cooperative consensus

The approach offers new unique features for the blockchain space (see highlights below).
Proxima is neither PoW, nor a PoS system.
Its cooperative consensus combines best of both worlds in highly parallelized architecture:

• it is as decentralized and permissionless as Bitcoin/PoW
• it is as performant, cost and energy efficient as PoS systems, yet it does not need BFT committee and staking

Resources

Start with informal introduction to main elements of Proxima design.
It describes UTXO tangle DAG, programmable UTXO ledger, cooperative consensus, on-ledger incentives, etc.

Further information can be found through GitHub repository: https://github.com/lunfardo314/proxima, which includes:

• Technical whitepaper with the concept details https://github.com/lunfardo314/proxima/blob/master/docs/Proxima_WP.pdf
• Advanced node prototype
• README with introduction and other links
• Contact information

The prototype node is built completely from scratch (not a fork). Its code (Golang) is light and highly parallelized.

Highlights of the architecture

• Programmable UTXO tangle ledger, a transaction DAG instead of blockchain.
• Novel cooperative consensus among token holders. Token holders are the sole participants in the network: no miners, no validators, no committees.
• Consensus is fully permissionless and open-participation like Bitcoin/PoW. Ownership of tokens is the only prerequisite to participate in the consensus. No introduction or registration procedures of any kind.
• Fairness. Every cooperating and contributing participant (token holder) receives inflation reward proportionally to it's holdings and time.
• Sybil-protected by token holdings, PoS style, yet no staking, etc.
• Leaderless determinism. There's no need for a consensus leader or block proposers. No MEV.
• Nash equilibrium through the optimal strategy of biggest ledger coverage rule, an analog of the Bitcoin's longest chain rule.
• The optimal strategy is cooperative among participants rather than competitive.
• High throughput as a result of massive parallelism and the absence of global bottlenecks.
• Low energy requirements, unlike PoW, similar to PoS.
• Low cost per transaction, like PoS.
• Asynchrony. The architecture relies only on weak assumptions of synchronicity.
• Probabilistic finality. Depends on subjective assumptions, similar to 6-block rule in Bitcoin.
• Parallelism at the consensus level. Assets converge to their finality states in parallel.
• Parallelism at the node level. Independent transactions are validated independently. That enables efficient use of multi-core processors.

[yifan_gem]

Hello, how can participants obtain tokens in this network? Does your statement imply that mining is not required? If so, how are the tokens distributed and delivered to the token holders?

[lunfardo314]

Every token holder in Proxima is a “miner” of sorts. Yet it is not a mining as known in PoW.
They receive inflation proportional to their token holdings for their contribution to the consensus and cooperation with others. It is achieved by running so called sequencer chains on the ledger.  Details in WP.
Initially, supply will be premined and distributed to bootstrap token holders via ICO. Then supply will inflate along the activity on the network with halving rules.

[makertronic]

the code is good. well done.
Do you have a discord? How can we help you?

[stefanoste]

Very interesting indeed . looking forward to participating in ICO , please provide a discord channel link if already available

[TGCE]

As outlined by the OP, Proxima is in its formative stage and is building the early community. If you are passionate about innovation and collaboration you should join the newly established discord to shape the future of Proxima.

Discord Invite Link: discord.gg/UfFcFDy38j


The discord server will be completely handled by a devoted team of community mods so the developer(s) can focus on their core competencies. Further, there will be frequent updates so you can get a feel of where the project is at (e.g. planned tokenomics, initial distribution, ...).

Currently Proxima is opening up step by step with the emphasis on decentralizing the knowledge about its concept. For this, we in particular invite enthusiastic developer who are interested to dive into the tech, join the soon to come closed testnet and bring their unique skills and ideas to help shape Proxima's vision and mission. Nevertheless, we believe that also the broader community will play a pivotal role in guiding Proxima's journey.

The founder is also open for talks with seed capital investors, who are interested in supporting the initial growth phase and help lay a strong financial foundation. The goal is to establish a robust structure to support the long-term goals by building a diverse and dynamic team committed to driving Proxima forward.

If you're interested in being part of this exciting journey, do not hesitate and introduce yourself to the community.

Cheers.

[2Q9acN]

Initially, supply will be premined and distributed to bootstrap token holders via ICO. Then supply will inflate along the activity on the network with halving rules.

Why not doing an initial POW-phase (and then switch to the cooperative consensus) instead of the ICO? Less legal risk and it would be more of a fair and permissionless launch.

[lunfardo314]

it is not defined yet. All options will be considered, thanks for suggestions.
Pre-mine is necessary for secure bootstrap of the network, due to its architecture.
In the beginning 100% the supply will be controlled by one sequencer.  It will be a fully functional network, potentially with many nodes, yet centralized. Worthless.
Then tokens from initial supply on the bootstrap sequencer will be gradually distributed to other committed parties who will run their sequencers
(or delegate to sequencers) and will start earning inflation and other income.
This will create liquidity of the token and the network will gradually become decentralized. Positive feedback loop between token liquidity and decentralization.
Not sure it can be called ICO, probably not.
The philosophy behind Proxima is cooperation among major token holders and social consensus.

[0nion]

Not for mining?

[MMOStars]

GL with PoS Kaspa clone, I'm sure with 0 community it will go far.

[lunfardo314]

GL with PoS Kaspa clone, I'm sure with 0 community it will go far.

Not PoS, not Kaspa, not clone. But thanks for GL

[lunfardo314]

Description of main Proxima architecture elements is available. Less technical than whitepaper

 --> Follow the link to HackMD book  

[2Q9acN]

The main element of incentives in Proxima is inflation on the chain. Each token holder is entitled to build chains of transactions on the ledger and earn inflation income by creating tokens out of thin air proportionally to their holdings and time.

Is Proxima trying to be money? If so, how does it provide for censorship-resistance which in coins with capped emission is funded by fees.

[lunfardo314]

Proxima aims to be fully decentralized and permissionless L1 for settlement of crypto assets: fungible (money) and parallelized non-fungible assets (UTXO chains, L2 states/ledgers etc).
It is money in the same sense as Bitcoin.

Censorship-resistance comes from the liquidity of the token and fully permissionless and decentralized set of token holders (who are also the "validators" of ledger).
If you send your transaction to the network, the only way to stop is when >50% of on-chain capital colludes. It is unfeasible.
There are no mempools btw. Participants/nodes exchange transactions directly.

[lunfardo314]

Not for mining?

no mining like in Bitcoin and PoW in Proxima.
However, there are several ways of contributing to the security of the ledger and receiving reward for that. In completely permissionless manner.
Sequencing is one of them, it is somehow similar to mining. Delegating is another.

In Proxima consensus is run by cooperating token holders, there are no third parties like miners of validators.

[lunfardo314]

Proxima just reached new milestone: open testnet.
To try it out by sending tokens, generating inflation, running node and sequencer join us in Discord: discord.gg/BHMv33ekzZ

[mike5456]

I'm still confused on how normal people get coins? ICOs are not allowed in many countries not to mention the KYC and all that. If normal people cannot get coins at the start then project is built on a house of cards.