What is Polkadot currently working on?
JOIN-ACCUMULATE MACHINE:
Quasi-consistent, scalable, trustless virtual machine
Abstract. We present a comprehensive and formal definition of Jam, a protocol that combines elements of Polkadot and Ethereum. In a single coherent model, Jam provides a global singleton, permissionless object environment - similar to the smart contract environment pioneered by Ethereum, coupled with secure side-channel computation that can run in parallel on a scalable network of nodes, a solution pioneered by Polkadot.
Jam introduces a decentralized hybrid system that provides smart contract functionality built around the in-core/on-chain duality of security and scalability. While the smart contract functionality implies some similarities to the Ethereum paradigm, the overall model of services provided is driven primarily by Polkadot's underlying architecture.
The essence of Jam is permissionless, allowing anyone to deploy code on it as a service, pay fees based on the resources used by that code, and guide the execution of that code by purchasing and allocating core-time, an elastic, universal measure of computation similar to gas fees in Ethereum. We have envisioned a CoreChains service that is compatible with Polkadot.
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