On the occasion of the Parisian event Proof of Talk where The Cryptonomist was a media partner, we conducted an interview with Beniamin Mincu, CEO & Co-founder at MultiversX (former Elrond).
Beniamin Mincu is a leading web3 entrepreneur and the Founding CEO of MultiversX. As an influential name in the blockchain space, Beniamin is responsible for MultiversX’s foray into building scalable L1 solutions, focusing on areas of cross-chain security & interoperability, asset tokenization, and sovereign chains.
Under his leadership, MultiversX’s focus on serving enterprises & the developer community, has helped establish it as a Top-100 L1 project processing at a max of 263,000 transactions/second, with a growing ecosystem of over 8,200 dApps and 3,200 nodes.
Prior to his time at MultiversX, Beniamin Co-Founded and led Metachain Capital, a digital asset investment fund focused on supporting innovation in the blockchain space through capital, key connections, strategic advice, and more with investments from Polkadot, Binance, and Tezos, among others.
What is your long-term vision for MultiversX, and how do you see it evolving in the next 5 to 10 years?
At MultiversX, we are creating the infrastructure required to support internet-scale on-chain activity across multiple verticals and industries and move the blockchain space away from a highly siloed and fragmented experience that is characterized by limited throughput and inadequate security safeguards. What enables us to do so is the underlying sharding technology that ensures an efficient architecture for all things digital, which translates into a network that is fast and secure while also being carbon-negative.
Can you share some real-world applications and partnerships that have successfully utilized the MultiversX blockchain?
One of our first core apps, and one that has already garnered traction within the Web3 space and beyond, used by millions of people worldwide, is xPortal, a digital wallet for finance, on-chain experiences, and so much more. xPortal abstracts any complex blockchain interactions and provides a seamless and intuitive interface that’s on par with that of any Web2 application.
Of course, our ecosystem, currently sitting at over 8,000 apps, is far wider than just crypto payments and includes Web3 games, marketplaces for digital assets, DeFi, bridges, launchpads, tokenization or real-world assets, developer tools and so much more.
Another example of a project utilizing the MultiversX blockchain is PlayFi, a GameFi project targeting over 3 billion gamers globally that enables developers to build web3 gaming features on top of traditional games. This, in essence, creates an intersection between GameFi and traditional gaming akin to a permissionless Fortnite tournament.
Our ecosystem’s simplicity and ease of development is reflected in how MultiversX is now the leading blockchain network for game development, with 263 notable GitHub events compared to the runner-up, Decentraland’s 150 GitHub events.
How does MultiversX differentiate itself from other blockchain platforms like Ethereum, Solana, or Polkadot?
Being based on sharding tech, MultiversX is the only truly scalable blockchain capable of growing with demand far beyond the capabilities of other networks. In addition, developers are highly incentivized on the network, as they receive 30% of gas fees when their smart contract is called.
Among the other features that set MultiversX apart is how it supports the ease of development for newcomers to blockchain technology. For instance, our partnership with Tencent Cloud, AWS and Google Cloud led to the creation of a blockchain infrastructure solution that enables application development without the need to start from scratch. This minimizes the inconvenience of deploying and managing MultiversX blockchain infrastructure nodes, saving hours of research and practice.
MultiversX is known for its high throughput. Can you explain the technology behind this and how it ensures scalability without compromising security?
We utilize sharding technology to multiply the capabilities of the network, enabling high-performance use cases on top of our L1 infrastructure and potentially hundreds of L2s exploring Sovereign Chains and looking to ensure scalability and interoperability. This involves splitting the network into smaller, more manageable pieces, maintaining security, speed, negligible costs and energy efficiency at times of exponential activity.
Sharding-tech-powered solutions such as Sovereign Chains go beyond just one vertical and expand into DeFi, gaming, healthcare and enterprise sectors. In gaming, for instance, high throughput and low latency, combined with adjustable transaction fees, enable radically different business models and gameplays.
We further ensure the security of our scalable solution through on-chain 2FA, which requires two separate forms of verification that secure digital assets. Even in the worst case of the secret phrase being compromised, exploiters would remain unable to move funds without the Guardian feature’s co-signing.
What steps are you taking to attract developers and projects to build on the MultiversX platform?
Sovereign Chains provide a robust and scalable foundation for building the next generation of dApps and interoperability of L2s with major blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana. This particularly appeals to developers looking to leverage multiple ecosystems’ strengths to create more versatile and powerful products for last-mile user consumption. To further encourage the development on Sovereign Chains and support developers, we have in place a US$1 million grant program for builders.
We also ensure that extra measure is taken to facilitate a seamless building journey for prospective projects and developers on the MultiversX Network. With a complete Developer Resource Library available, developers can find all the necessary documentation, GitHub and StackOverflow resources.
How is MultiversX navigating the complex regulatory landscape, and what are your views on the future of blockchain regulation?
We have always been in contact with regulators and legislators and believe that the best way forward is facilitated by collaboration with multiple stakeholders, including government officials. One way that we are trying to kickstart public-private initiatives is by showcasing how blockchain technology can be used at the institutional level for greater efficiency and transparency or just to enable different types of engagement with their users or constituents. For example, we have seen the launch of the first institutional NFT marketplace in Romania on MultiversX, with multiple public sector participants contributing collections.
Furthermore, while regulation is inevitable, we strongly believe that it should be coordinated with key players in the field to produce the best results for the public while continuing to encourage innovation. With blockchain, multi-stakeholder collaboration is key. We see that many mainstream entities are starting to realize the cost-saving potential of blockchain-based systems, and creating an environment that fosters collaboration between public officials, private organizations, tech startups, and other blockchain-related entities will drive innovation, encourage investment and provide early economies of scale.
What measures are in place to ensure the environmental sustainability of the MultiversX network?
We have been offsetting more CO2 than is attributable to our energy footprint since 2021. Our annual carbon footprint generated by product development and operations is approximately 5,253 tonnes compared to the financial system’s annual 1,100 megatonnes of carbon emissions and Bitcoin’s annual 62 megatonnes of carbon emissions.
To put this into perspective, our annual carbon footprint is equivalent to approximately 16,422 Bitcoin transactions or 16,422,500 miles of driving. This modest footprint enables exponential efficiency seen in the network’s high throughput, demonstrating a mindset to make blockchain technology a sustainable force for good.
How are you enhancing the user experience for both developers and end-users on the MultiversX platform?
Our Sovereign Chains’ delivers increased performance by dedicating a blockspace and computational resources to one concept, which improves transaction throughput, reduces latency and lowers fees. This catalyzes the performance of applications in gaming, DeFi and other real-world use cases.
In addition, developers will find unprecedented levels of flexibility and sovereignty through the option to customize various aspects of their blockchain, including the security model, fee token model, governance mechanism and VM. This level of customization is instrumental in attracting and retaining users and developers through its unique incentive schemes, tokenomics, and user experiences.
Can you elaborate on the security mechanisms in place to protect the network from potential threats and vulnerabilities?
Most common attack vectors that are present in blockchains are tackled through a large number of participating validator nodes. More nodes equals more security, as the effort/cost to gain control of sufficient nodes to do damage (mint coins, double spend, reject valid transactions, etc) increases. In fact, MultiversX is the second largest Proof of Stake network by validator node count after Ethereum, currently having 3,300+ block producers at the consensus layer.
To make attacks even harder to attempt, nodes are shuffled around shards at random each epoch, so even if an attacker manages somehow (infeasible economically in practice) to get control of a large enough number of nodes, they do not have time to coordinate maliciously. Moreover, MultiversX uses randomness to assign a block proposer and consensus group, resetting each block. The chances of nodes being in the same consensus group are lower than winning the lottery several times in a row.
The security of the MultiversX blockchain and associated core components is a top priority for MultiversX. Our Proof of Stake network is secured by considerable amounts of EGLD and provides valuable services for business or private use. Our mission is to become a layer of trust for digital financial systems at internet scale, and the highest level of security is a mandatory prerequisite. Therefore, we recognize that fostering a close relationship with the broader community helps improve the security of the MultiversX blockchain, and for this, we are running a specific bounty program for several years now, through which we receive and welcome vulnerability reports from researchers, auditor companies and individual experts.
10. What new features or innovations can the community expect from MultiversX in the near future?
As part of the roadmap, we are bringing important upgrades that will make the network faster, with the ultimate goal of getting to sub-second finality as per the latest research improvement proposal, enhancing privacy via Zero-Knowledge confidential transactions, bringing on-chain support for mobile biometrics and passkeys to allow for the creation of seamless and secure experiences for users. These represent just a fraction of what we are currently working on. Of course, Sovereign Chains remain a high priority for us, and we are in advanced discussions with enterprises interested in developing scalable, cost-effective on-chain solutions using the underlying MultiversX technology.
