DEVELOPMENT
Let’s cover the Astar blockchain: what kind of network it is, what are the results for 2022, and development plans for 2023.
About Astar
What is Astar
Astar is an L1 blockchain built on Polkadot. It is designed to provide a platform for developers to create and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) that can support Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WASM smartcontracts (discussed below).
By supporting both EVMs and WASMs, Astar allows developers to write smart contracts in the programming language of their choice, giving them greater flexibility and choice in the development process. This allows for more complex and powerful dApps that can take advantage of both EVM and WASM.
The project was founded in 2019 by Sota Watanabe. Since the $ASTR token was registered by the Japanese government as a cryptocurrency rather than a security, Sota Watanabe has focused on growing the network by launching a growth organization in Japan, Astar Japan Lab . The Japanese government has now looked favorably on Web3, making it part of its national strategy and meeting regularly with Sota Watanabe. Not surprisingly, Forbes Japan also decided to put Sota Watanabe on the cover of its December issue (2022).
Who is the founder of
Astar Network (formerly Plasm Network) was founded by Sota Watanabe and his team at Stake Technologies in 2019.
Sota Watanabe is a Japanese entrepreneur and blockchain developer with a passion for creating innovative blockchain solutions. Prior to founding Astar Network, he worked as a software engineer at Mixi Inc. and Rakuten Inc. where he gained experience developing large-scale systems.
Sota Watanabe founded Astar Network with the goal of creating a scalable and interoperable blockchain platform that can support a wide range of decentralized applications.
Ecosystem
Astar’s ecosystem looks like this:
New accounts
Dynamics of new accounts creation (gray).
TVL
Ranked 2nd out of 15, among all DeFi projects on Polkadot.
Astar’s current TVL is $44 million.
Peak TVL was $385 million in April 2022. TVL has fallen 88% from the peak.
Top 10 DeFi projects. In 1st place with a dominance of 41% (of the total TVL of the Astar ecosystem) is the project Algem with the theme of liquid steaking.
Apps in Astar
Astar’s top 10 apps according to DappRadar. Seven of the 10 projects belong to the DeFi sector.
Top 5 Interconnects (XCM channels) in the Polkadot ecosystem
How much invested
The current price of Astr token is $0.056. The price has fallen 87% from the highs.
There are 53% of tokens in circulation.
Current capitalization is $0.23 billion.
Total capitalization is $0.44 billion.
According to known information, about $24 million were invested in Astar.
Astar development activity
Among the largest Polkadot projects (Astar, Moonbeam, Acala), Astar is in second place for development activity.
Development activity – shows the project’s development activity over time based on a number of purely development-related “events” in the project’s publicly accessible Github repository. (does not take into account: release comments, forks, stars, etc.).
ASTR token
The ASTR token is Astar’s own blockchain token. It is also a service token of the Astar network that performs the following functions:
- Stacking dApps. Token owners can place ASTR tokens on dApps and receive rewards. Typically, app developers on the network also receive ASTR tokens by developing smart contracts or infrastructure for the Astar network.
- Network Stacking. ASTR token holders can place their tokens on the network to become validators and earn rewards.
- Fees. ASTR tokens can also be used to pay transaction fees on the network.
- L2. Astar is an L1 platform that supports L2 application implementations. Thus, L2 applications contribute ASTR tokens to L1 smart contracts and create L2 applications.
- Onchain management. ASTR token holders also participate in governance by voting on proposals.
How it works
Polkadot’s Relay Chain, by design, does not support smart contract functions. Thus, a parachain that supports smart contracting functions well would be a great asset to the Polkadot ecosystem.
When it comes to smart contracts, multiple virtual machines and scalability are key features of a next-generation smart contracts platform. And now Astar has implemented not only support for smart contracts, but also supports multiple virtual machines – WASM and EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).
The WASM VM is an EVM-based virtual machine, accordingly it allows you to create a smart contract execution environment. With WASM, a blockchain can be created that executes smart contracts written in languages such as Rust, C/C++, C#, Javascript, Typescript and others.
In addition, since most of the major languages that can be compiled into WASM initially support asynchronous functions in their syntax, it is possible to introduce asynchrony into WASM smartcontracts. This means that it is now possible to process crosschain functions within a smart contract instead of sending messages blindly, not knowing what the response is.
While WASM and EVM have some similarities, they also have some differences in terms of their advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of WASM over EVM:
- Performance: WASM is designed to run at near raw speed, making it much faster than EVM. This means that smartcontracts written in languages that are compiled in WASM, such as Rust, C/C++, C#, Javascript, Typescript, can execute faster and more efficiently than those written in languages that are compiled in EVM, such as Solidity.
- Security: WASM provides an isolated execution environment that ensures that smartcontracts cannot access resources outside their assigned memory space. This makes it more secure than EVM, which in the past had some vulnerabilities that were exploited by attackers.
- Flexibility: WASM is a versatile virtual machine that can run code written in multiple programming languages, whereas EVM is designed to run only Solidity code. This makes it easier for developers to write smart contracts in the programming language of their choice.
Disadvantages of WASM compared to EVM:
- Tools: The tooling and development ecosystem for WASM is not as advanced as for EVM. This means that developers may have problems developing smart contracts for WASM.
- Complexity: The WASM instruction set is more complex than the EVM instruction set, which can make it difficult for developers to write and debug smart contracts.
- Compatibility: Although WASM is gaining support in the blockchain community, not all blockchain platforms currently support it. This may limit the use of smart contracts written in languages that are compiled in WASM.
One of the main advantages of WASM is the flexibility it provides in terms of the choice of language a smartcontract developer can use when writing code. This impressive list includes Rust, C/C++, C#, Javascript, and Typescript. This choice allows developers to write smart contracts in whatever language is convenient for them.
From a technical point of view, WASM-based smart contracts are the way to go. However, implementing WASM smart contracts in a world dominated by EVMs poses a serious problem. Most teams are too used to the rich EVM ecosystem. Because most WASM virtual machine ecosystems are small, many existing projects don’t see the benefits of learning WASM smartcontracts from the ground up.
Astar recently introduced a cross-virtual machine (XVM) to address this very problem.
XVMs allow a smart contract in one virtual machine to interact with another as if they were in the same environment. In other words, you can create a smart contract in an XVM and provide access to any assets or contracts available on the EVM side.
In addition, if an EVM Astar is connected to another L0 such as Axelar or Celer, a smart contract can be created with access to all EVM blockchains connected to Axelar and Celer.
With XVM, many potential applications can be created that do more than just connect liquidity to EVMs on WASM. With XVM, you can validate ownership of assets in a different environment from a different account scheme (e.g., transferring ownership of an ERC20 token using a Polkadot-js wallet only). This means you don’t need to create a new wallet for each environment to control all assets.
For example, many NFT trading venues currently only allow EVM signers such as MetaMask. Thus, it is impossible to sell NFT ERC721 using Polkadot-js, or RMRK NFT using MetaMask. With XVM, you can solve this problem by allowing two signers to handle and transfer ownership of any NFT standard to both EVM and WASM.
Through Astar dApps can interact with a smart contract in a completely foreign environment, such as Solana or Near, using a secure cross-messaging protocol, XCM* on Polkadot.
* XCM is a universal language for cross-network communication that can be used both inside and outside the Polkadot ecosystem. XCM is already in use in the Polkadot ecosystem. Parachains as well as contracts and applications deployed on them have additional functionality. This includes support for bridging, for example, with external networks, improved transaction payments, NFT, and more.
Summary of 2022
In 2022, Astar became a Polkadot parachute and launched a core network. This was a milestone after two years of development.
The project raised $22 million, led by Polychain, followed by Coinbase , other legendary investors and well-known personalities such as Gavin Wood.
Developed more than 70 projects and announced several major corporate partnerships, such as NTT Docomo (the largest mobile operator in Japan).
Q2
- A new Astar portal was launched.
- Launch of dApp Staking v2.
- Initial download of the EVM environment in Astar.
Q3
- Astar supports Ledger.
- Close collaboration with: Alchemy, Subsquid, DIA, Subscan, Blockscout, SubQuery, Subwallet.
- Opening interconnect with several projects on Polkadot: Moonbeam, Acala, Phala, Bifrost, Clover, Interlay.
- Initial loading of WASM dApps in Astar.
Q4
- XVM demo.
- Introduction of light client.
- Launched mesh network – decentralized public infrastructure.
Plans for 2023
This will be a year of massive growth to become the recognized L1 blockchain of the entire blockchain ecosystem. This will be achieved by focusing on two areas: WASM and growth in Japan.
“We need to create an environment in the Polkadot ecosystem so that people can deploy WASM – more efficient and sophisticated smart contracts in Astar. People can write smart contracts based on Rust, Go, or maybe javascript and typescript. That’s why we’re very optimistic about WASM,” Sota Watanabe.
To recap, Astar provides the infrastructure for building dApps with EVM and WASM smart contracts, offering developers true interoperability with XCM-based messaging and cross virtual machines (XVM). Astar’s unique Build2Earn model allows developers to get paid through the dApp stacking mechanism for the code they write and the dApps they create.
Q1
Cross Virtual Machine (XVM)
Currently, XVM is in version 2, and version 3 is expected in 2023.
In version 3, the smart contract will be able to read smart contract storage values from another environment (e.g., read an account balance).
In the future, XVM wants to integrate with XCM so that smartcontracts on Astar can invoke smartcontracts on other parachains, regardless of which virtual machine they use. This will allow developers to create a truly cross-network native dApp and extend the functionality of smartcontracts to something they couldn’t do before.
They will also add another virtual machine that can initially handle asynchrony for smart contracts and abstract any calls between blockchains as an asynchronous function. This virtual machine will be compatible with XVM, allowing any dApp applications on the Astar network to take full advantage of inter-networking features without forcing users to create another account in another blockchain or deploy another dApp.
SDK for XVM and Astar.js
Efforts will focus on the Astar user interface library and Astar.js
Astar.js is a powerful and versatile tool for interacting with the Astar blockchain. It is a TypeScript library that provides developers with a simple and intuitive interface for creating decentralized applications (dApps) on top of the Astar network.
To make the development process even easier, the XVM SDK has been prepared for commonly used interfaces in the EVM and WASM virtual machine world.
Mesh networks
An Astar Mesh Network is a peer-to-peer (P2P) model that allows for a secure shared environment of RPC nodes to interact with the network. Nodes send traffic between themselves rather than through a central server.
This mesh network allows for increased security and efficient scalability. Nodes can be added without overloading the network, and connections can be established via the shortest path to minimize latency. Most importantly, you can scale by increasing the number of RPC nodes hosted by any provider and rely on non-OS servers rather than virtual machines, thereby reducing the network’s reliance on private cloud services alone. Third-party cloud servers are important, but a true Web3 network must have a large and diverse infrastructure so that it cannot be shut down or limited to a few nodes.
Nodes can fail, but the network always has a set of interconnections with other nodes, and they will regularly try to maintain a persistent connection to each other.
What are the advantages of a decentralized mesh network?
- Eliminating dependence on a single cloud provider. Nodes are distributed across all cloud/physical service providers. No dependence on a single cloud provider.
- Reduces the likelihood of mass failure. In a centralized network, if the cloud provider fails, the entire infrastructure of the node also fails. This leads to a network outage. However, a decentralized network drastically reduces the likelihood of a simultaneous failure of the entire system.
- It is difficult for a DDOS attack because all nodes are not in the same place.An attack on a single node will not result in a network outage. Other geolocations can process transactions on behalf of the attacked node.
- Load balancing. Astar manages and monitors network performance itself. Traffic can be balanced through a network of RPC nodes, which means more efficient network performance.
- Improved user interface. Improves node response times for transaction processing. Transactions will default to the closest nodes according to user geolocation. Astar now has connected nodes all over the world: Asia, America and Europe.
Stacking dApp
When building on other blockchains, developers of decentralized applications (dApps) need to apply for grant programs, issue tokens and raise funds to make money. Not only that, they often have to pay high gas fees.
In order to create great dApps, developers have to create them. For developers to create great dApps, they need financial incentives. That’s where steaking dApps come into play.
Steaking a dApp is how developers who create dApps can be compensated. With a base income, developers can continue to create and improve their dApps.
At its core, dApp stacking is similar to validator stacking, but in this new paradigm, dApp stackers, also known as nominators, can nominate their Astar tokens to the specific dApp they want to support.
If a dApp is nominated, developers can earn a base income. As dApps grow in popularity, more and more community members nominate a dApp, which in turn allows developers who have created a dApp to receive a larger percentage of the reward per unit.
With dApp stacking, developers can earn a base income when they create a dApp on Astar. Having financial incentives encourages more developers to create and improve their dApps. The more developers use the ecosystem, the better for everyone.
The benefits of this approach:
- Developers of dApps can generate income. This allows developers to earn basic income from the rewards they receive from posted tokens. With income, developers can support themselves by improving their dApps, and this in turn attracts more smart contract developers to the ecosystem.
- Nominators can be rewarded for steaking. Steakers of dApps, also called nominators, can also earn rewards for steaking and at the same time supporting dApps. Having nominators staking on dApps makes the ecosystem more stable.
- Fewer tokens in circulation means a higher price. The more tokens are steamed, the fewer tokens are in circulation, which has a positive effect on the price of the token because there is less supply in circulation.
Q2
The second quarter will focus on Swanky Suite, a universal tool for WASM developers, as well as increasing the number of dApp projects. Astar Network tokenomics will also be developed.
An NFT trading platform based on WASM smart contracts and with RMRK support (on Shiden) is also expected.
Q3
In Q3 2023, Astar will look to expand its talent pool because there will be more high-quality tools and projects. The goal is to launch the Astar Standard Development Kit (SDK), initiate further decentralization of infrastructure, improve existing decentralized tools, and create a training center for existing and novice developers.
Conclusion
Astar is a promising blockchain that offers developers flexibility and efficiency by supporting both EVMs and WASMs.
Astar’s architecture, based on the Polkadot network, offers high scalability and interoperability between almost any blockchain. Astar gives developers the flexibility to choose the programming language that best suits their needs and preferences, enabling more efficient development of decentralized applications.
