Building a public chain is a challenging task because it involves many problems such as technology development, ecosystem construction, and market competition. Especially at the technical level, it is necessary to focus on breakthroughs in core aspects such as consensus mechanism design, system scalability, security assurance, and smart contract compatibility. In addition, the long-term stable operation of the public chain and the implementation of decentralized governance are also major obstacles that hinder the advancement of many teams.
However, with the maturity of chain issuance technology, one-click chain issuance has gradually become a reality. With the help of the existing chain issuance framework, an independent L1 blockchain can be quickly developed, and it is more flexible in terms of gas, governance, token model, access rights, consensus mechanism and scalability, and is no longer restricted by the existing framework. At the same time, for many companies that want to build applications on the blockchain, developing an L1 is a better choice than deploying smart contracts.
1. Clarify Development Needs
Before starting to build a blockchain, it is essential to clarify the following points:
Application Scenarios: Simply put, what is this public chain used for? For example, financial transactions, supply chain management, gaming, social interactions, etc., will determine the design of blockchain technology.
Core Requirements: Determine the core requirements of blockchain design based on scenario needs. For instance, a public chain for gaming will have high requirements for network performance TPS, including the development of NFT modules for in-game item design. If it’s for financial transactions, there will be higher demands for gas fees, security, and network stability. If it’s for social products, there will be greater emphasis on user privacy protection and data storage requirements.
Compatibility with Existing Ecosystems: If compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem is desired, one can choose the EVM platform for development, such as the Optimism Stack framework. Conversely, if compatibility with the Move ecosystem is desired, one can choose Starcoin's development framework StarStack, which is currently the only chain issuance framework within the Move ecosystem.
Once development needs are clear, it becomes easier to choose the appropriate technical framework, improving development efficiency.
2. Existing Development Frameworks
Currently, there are various blockchain development frameworks and tools available in the market that can help you quickly set up a blockchain. Below are several mainstream and user-friendly development frameworks.
2.1 Optimism
The OP Stack developed by Optimism is a modular, open-source code architecture for creating highly scalable, highly interoperable blockchain networks. It serves as a flexible blueprint that can customize different modules for consensus, execution, and settlement layers according to different needs and scenarios, forming a consistent and reliable Layer2.
The OP Stack provides developers with a flexible, customizable, interoperable, and scalable platform, allowing them to create their desired Layer2 networks according to their needs and vision. Optimism has also been renamed OP Mainnet, linking all Layer2s created with OP Stack, forming a larger multi-chain network known as SuperChain.
However, OP Stack is primarily used for developing L2, integrating the entire SuperChain network onto Ethereum, with the advantage being:
Modular Design: Application chains often adopt a modular design, allowing developers to customize settlement mechanisms, data availability, and other infrastructure components to meet specific needs.
Performance Optimization: Many new application chains can achieve cost reductions and improve throughput by introducing other data availability layer solutions.
Enhanced Value Capture: Features like custom Gas tokens and account abstraction can support more flexible application development, enabling more complex business and token models.
However, the shortcomings are:
Severe Dependence on Ethereum Ecosystem: The value of Ethereum will determine the development trajectory of these L2 projects. As seen in the secondary market, when Ethereum shows fatigue, the market value of these L2 projects also hits new lows.
Too Many L2 Chains Increasing Competition: Currently, there are over 100 known L2 chains, and with the support of launch platforms like OP, Polygon, and Arbitrum, L2 will experience rapid growth. However, Ethereum resources are limited, leading to an escalating competition for Ethereum ecosystem users and resources.
Increased Complexity: Compared to traditional dApps, the complexity of new application chains has increased, particularly during design and implementation, potentially requiring more technical resources and support.
2.2 Cosmos
Cosmos focuses on application chain development, enabling simple and rapid public chain development through the Tendermint consensus engine and Cosmos SDK. It then uses the IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocol to facilitate communication and interconnection between chains with the same structure.
Compared to Polkadot, the Cosmos ecosystem is quite comprehensive. According to Coingecko statistics, there are 162 listed Cosmos ecosystem projects, with 12 of them among the top 100 by market capitalization, including recently popular projects like Celestia, Injective, and Sei from Cosmos, as well as the previously over $10 billion market cap Luna.
When building a blockchain based on Cosmos, the Cosmos SDK is primarily used. This is a development toolkit that allows developers to build blockchains using the Tendermint consensus algorithm. The SDK reduces complexity by providing the most common features included in blockchains, such as staking, management, and tokens.
Advantages of Cosmos Chain:
Sovereignty and Flexibility: Cosmos's free SDK allows developers to build sovereign blockchain applications that incur ongoing costs.
Highly Scalable: In terms of vertical scalability, Cosmos achieves thousands of transaction processing capabilities through Tendermint BFT and vertical scalability.
Development Environment of the Ecosystem: The Cosmos SDK simplifies the development process of blockchain applications, enabling developers to create custom chains on the SDK, promoting the adoption and growth of the blockchain ecosystem.
Plug-and-Play and Customizable Consensus Layer: You can use Rollkit and Celestia as your consensus and data availability layers.
However, the shortcomings are:
Cross-Chain Security (ICS): Introducing the concept of ICS (Inter-Chain Communication Security) somewhat increases the burden on application developers, as they now need to independently manage the validator set and economic security of the application chain, which can be challenging for developers who are not well-versed in blockchain and security.
Complexity of Liquid Staking: Stakers may face increased risks from DeFi activities, as their stakes may now earn returns through DeFi activities.
Significant Performance Bottlenecks: As an application chain, it needs to handle millions of transactions, and the current performance is clearly inadequate.
2.3 Starcoin
Starcoin focuses on high-performance, customizable Layer1 blockchain one-click smart deployment solutions, allowing developers to use StarStack for independent blockchain development. StarStack is a brand new development framework for the Move ecosystem and is currently the only blockchain development framework in the Move ecosystem. It is an open-source code library centered around modularity for building customized Layer1, enabling developers to start the Move virtual machine and run their own blockchain. In the future, it may also use its AI intelligent system for blockchain deployment in a conversational manner.
Compared to Cosmos, StarStack provides sufficient flexibility and customizable components, allowing developers to freely choose in aspects such as consensus algorithms, virtual machines, cryptographic protocols, on-chain governance, transaction management, and gas modules.
Compared to Optimism, StarStack positions itself as Layer1, focusing on independent blockchain development, unrestricted by any other blockchain, including Starcoin itself. Developers have more flexibility and operational space, with data availability and consensus validation being independently designed, while also being scalable and not limited by network performance.
The technical framework and advantages of StarStack are:
1) Built on the Move language and virtual machine. The underlying framework and smart contracts of StarStack are written in the Move language, and the virtual machine also uses Move. Object-oriented and asset-based programming allows for high transparency of resources within modules, while external calls to modules remain completely opaque. The Move language is also known as the most secure and flexible smart contract language, providing more space for its one-click chain issuance solution when customizing Layer1.
2) Based on DAG structure. StarStack introduces a DAG structure and has innovatively launched FlexiDAG, upgrading the PoW consensus mechanism to dynamically adjust block time, difficulty, and block rewards. FlexiDAG accelerates block generation speed, shortens transaction confirmation time, and significantly improves network performance and system efficiency. Additionally, key parameters can be dynamically adjusted through on-chain governance mechanisms, making the system more adaptable and flexible.
3) Parallelized High-Performance Network. StarStack introduces a high-performance multi-threaded memory computing engine, TurboSTM, which fundamentally changes the execution method of smart contracts. TurboSTM utilizes Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) and optimistic locking to achieve synchronized data reading and timely updates, significantly reducing execution bottlenecks and increasing transaction throughput. This also leads to a qualitative leap in network performance, with official test environment data showing a maximum TPS of 130,000, which is already at the industry ceiling for public chains.
4) Compatibility with mainstream Move ecosystem applications. Recently, it has been observed that Starcoin achieved full compatibility with Move ecosystem applications through the upgrade to Move V7, allowing developers to easily migrate and deploy their dApps without rewriting code. In simple terms, Layer1 issued by Starcoin can be compatible with most applications within the Move ecosystem, such as applications developed on Aptos being easily migrated to the new Layer1 without modifying the original code. Of course, this also applies to blockchains developed using StarStack, providing great convenience for developers looking to engage with the Move ecosystem.
However, the downside is that Starcoin is relatively lacking in chain issuance ecosystem applications, with few applications and limited market validation. However, since the StarStack framework was just released, many developers are expected to try it out. For developers looking to independently develop public chains with high customization, Starcoin has its unique advantages.
3. Summary
The maturity of chain issuance technology has made building blockchains easy and straightforward. As long as the needs are clear and the appropriate technical framework is chosen, rapid deployment of blockchains can be achieved. If one values the ecosystem traffic pool, then established Ethereum ecosystem development frameworks can be selected; however, if one values emerging technologies and potential markets, then Move ecosystem's StarStack is a good choice.
