Meter launches Supernova Core, providing a new scalability solution for Cosmos SDK
As a brand new consensus framework, Supernova Core combines cutting-edge consensus algorithms and cryptographic technologies (such as HotStuff and BLS), undoubtedly elevating blockchain development to a new height. As a fully compatible solution with the Cosmos SDK, Supernova Core offers developers a seamless transition option.
As a pioneering Layer 1 public chain in the field of consensus and cross-chain infrastructure, Meter has announced the launch and open-sourcing of Supernova Core. This is a consensus framework that is fully compatible with the Cosmos SDK, designed to replace CometBFT, addressing challenges in performance and scalability, thereby enhancing the level of decentralization and development performance for developers within the Cosmos ecosystem.
As a brand-new consensus framework, Supernova Core combines state-of-the-art consensus algorithms and cryptographic technologies (such as HotStuff and BLS ), undoubtedly pushing blockchain development to a new height. As a solution fully compatible with the Cosmos SDK, Supernova Core provides developers with a seamless transition option, allowing them to integrate a new high-performance consensus solution while continuing to use their familiar development tools and frameworks.
The consensus engine of Supernova Core has been running on Meter for over four years, currently supporting a network of over 300 validator nodes and smoothly handling peak transactions of up to 8 million per day. In certain special cases, such as resource limitations (using restricted instances on AWS cloud servers), even when 20% of the validator nodes go down simultaneously during peak load, the Meter network still maintains its integrity and high performance. This extensive operational practice fully demonstrates its reliability, efficiency, and robustness under adverse conditions.
Current Challenges Facing Cosmos SDK
Currently, blockchains based on the Cosmos SDK face numerous challenges, including limitations in scalability, as the existing consensus mechanism struggles to maintain high throughput with an increasing number of validator nodes. Performance bottlenecks often arise from inefficient network design and high overhead in consensus information among validator nodes, thus hindering scalability. Additionally, difficulties in integrating Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality further limit the possibilities for cross-chain development.
"Through Supernova Core, we provide the community with a solution to break through the limitations of the existing Cosmos SDK consensus mechanism. " Meter co-founder Xiaohan Zhu stated, "By introducing innovations such as BLS signature aggregation, a more efficient network communication layer, and the latest consensus protocols, Supernova Core can achieve unprecedented scalability and high performance for developers. "
Technical Advantages of Supernova Core
Supernova Core addresses these issues in the following ways:
- BLS signature aggregation: Significantly reduces block size and communication overhead, allowing efficient scaling even with more than 150 validators;
- Optimized P2P network design: Enhances the efficiency and reliability of message passing among validators through a layered network architecture;
- Advanced consensus mechanism based on HotStuff protocol: Provides fast finality, high throughput, and better scalability of the number of validators through linear communication overhead;
- Fully EVM compatible: Ethereum native tools and smart contracts can be easily integrated into Cosmos-based chains.
The architecture of Supernova Core allows for the decoupling of education ordering and state processing, enabling virtual machine (VM) execution to be independent of consensus and scalable separately, laying the foundation for high-performance, decentralized Layer 2 solutions. This innovation not only ensures censorship resistance and fairness but also achieves speeds and performance that can rival or even outperform relatively centralized alternatives.
Currently, Supernova Core has opened its source code for community review and will soon be prepared for testnet deployment. Subsequent updates will also include support for parallel EVM and optimizations for Ethereum-style key/value store access patterns, further enhancing its performance and developer experience.
Supernova Core's GitHub repository: https://github.com/meterio/supernovacore
