As each week draws us closer to the launch of our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) it also brings other projects closer to completion and that can have some interesting knock-on effects. Development in the cryptocurrency space moves at a breakneck speed and we sometimes have to recalibrate our pathways to market.
For instance, our roadmap plans for us to release the MVP in Q1 on Arbitrum, which is an optimistic rollup on the Ethereum network. Then we plan to transition onto the Cardano blockchain through the Milkomeda side-chain initially, finally migrating to a Cardano Native Token.
However, as we get closer to the MVP launch Milkomeda is also getting closer to launching their sidechain, so it could well happen that we leapfrog the Arbitrum step and launch the MVP on Milkomeda. We’d like to make abundantly clear that this is just speculation at the moment due to the fast pace of development in the space. In all likelihood, we’ll launch on Arbitrum as per our roadmap, however, there’s also the exciting possibility that Milkomeda may be ready in time for our MVP.
Due to this potential acceleration of our options, we thought we’d take some time to compare the two different approaches that Arbitrum and Milkomeda offer Paribus.
For those of you who have some experience of transactions on Ethereum, you’ll be all too painfully aware of how expensive they can be. This is because the network can only process 15–25 transactions per second and the intensive processing power required to validate each block of transactions makes it expensive. You have congestion and reduced economies of scale leading to some transactions costing upwards of $200 in gas fees alone. This is where optimistic rollups like Arbitrum step in to ease the load and reduce the costs.
Arbitrum is known as a layer 2 (L2) solution. The base layer, in this case, Ethereum, is known as layer 1 (L1). L2 solutions enable Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts to run outside of the Ethereum chain but still be secured by it. They operate in a virtual sandbox area where the smart contract can execute and the final outcome can be checked before being written onto the base Ethereum layer.
Essentially this allows the majority of the processing to occur off-chain and only be written to the Ethereum chain when it’s complete. By batching many transactions together it also reduces the congestion of the chain. The end result is a completed transaction on Ethereum without the congestion and high gas fees.
As we were initially developing Paribus we felt the most effective route would be to start on Ethereum as we were uncertain if Cardano would be ready when we were. Knowing the problems of gas fees in advance we felt the most sensible approach would be to integrate the MVP with Arbitrum initially as this would get us live and then we could start developing the other aspects of Paribus alongside transitioning across chains. It’s always been our aim to be built on Cardano but operate across many chains, so this wasn’t the least bit daunting or unusual for us.
Our next step is then to bridge across to the Cardano blockchain through the Milkomeda sidechain. Unlike a rollup, a sidechain effectively bridges two different blockchains through wrapping assets and smart contracts. For instance, by using Milkomeda people will be able to be on the Cardano blockchain and run a wrapped smart contract on an Ethereum based Dapp such as Paribus whilst using wrapped ADA for the transaction fees. The sidechain handles all the heavy lifting and the results of the transaction are deposited back into the user’s wallet.
Ultimately of course Paribus will fully transition to a Cardano Native Token. These are just the steps to bridge the gap between starting out on Ethereum and moving to Cardano, by which time many of the network congestion issues on Cardano will hopefully be resolved. For those who are familiar with the current network congestion on Cardano, you’ll understand this approach makes the most sense. This way we can do our best to ensure the speed and security of the user experience throughout all stages of the journey onto Cardano and beyond.
Right now Milkomeda is on the verge of launching so we’ll have to wait and see what happens over the next few weeks. If things look promising we may be able to skip the Arbitrum step in time for the MVP launch. Either way, we hope this explanation helps everyone in the community understand a little bit more about our roadmap and how it’s a constant work in progress due to the shifting sands of the Cardano ecosystem and crypto space.
We often get questions about when certain parts of the roadmap will take place, but we always wait until we’re closer to each step before revealing more precise timings. It’s simply due to the nature of this leading-edge technology that things can change quickly, so we need a flexible approach to adapt and take the best advantage of the latest developments. Rest assured we work tirelessly, not only on the technical side of Paribus but also on the community engagement and communications side. Usually, as soon as we know something for certain we let everyone know within days and sometimes hours, so stay tuned for more exciting developments ahead.
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