What is Waves (WAVES) | Whitepaper Summary

Dive into Waves: Riding the Next Wave of Blockchain Innovation!

5 Dec 2022 | 9 min read

Table of Contents

WHAT IS WAVES?

Waves is a community-based stack of open-source, decentralized technology. Waves (WAVES) aims to enable a collection of decentralized open-source technologies so that developers may create scalable, usable apps. With Waves, an extensive blockchain ecosystem will be developed that offers several capabilities required for corporate adoption.

Decentralized apps (DApps) and smart contracts are two of the many use cases supported by Waves, a multipurpose blockchain platform. Following one of the first initial coin offers (ICO) in the crypto sector, Waves was introduced in June 2016 to enhance the first blockchain platforms by boosting speed, functionality, and usability. To improve upon its original concept, the platform has undergone numerous adjustments and included fresh spin-off features.

The native token of Waves is WAVES, a coin with an unlimited quantity that is used for customary payments like block rewards. It has its own on-chain governance, uses a modified proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol called Leased PoS, and has its own programming language called RIDE. “Waves Enhancement Proposals” are on-chain changes that WAVES holders can vote on (WEP). Any modifications to the protocol must receive the support of 80% of the participants.

EMERGENCE OF WAVES

Waves is associated with its creator and entrepreneur, Alexander Ivanov, who is of Ukrainian descent (also known as Sasha Ivanov). Ivanov had already made a name for himself in the crypto world before launching Waves, having created the now-defunct quick exchange Coinomat and the indexing website Cooleindex.

Additionally, he developed CoinoUSD, an early stablecoin linked to the dollar. Ivanov frequently participates in interviews to discuss Waves and the latest developments in the broader blockchain business. Waves now employ around 180 individuals, according to its marketing materials, in countries including Moscow and Switzerland. When Waves was formed, the path of the blockchain industry was difficult to predict, according to the platform’s official publication.

Decentralized finance (Defi) was still in its infancy, and there were few contemporary DeFi technologies available. However, the focus of Waves’ strategy was on cheap fees and high throughput. And today, when DeFi is being used in multiple aspects, these advantages offered by the Wave ecosystem seek to benefit DeFi. Thus, several DeFi apps have been built on the Waves protocol.

WAVES’ ARCHITECTURE

The proof-of-stake algorithm/protocol used by Waves is called WavesNG. Emin Gün Sirer, a well-known proponent of Bitcoin and a Cornell University developer, created Bitcoin-NG, a scaling proposal, on which the technology is built. The protocol eliminates the likelihood of forks while greatly accelerating network throughput and reducing the time required to create a new block.

It emphasizes that its open-source code offers more maintenance simplicity and trust than closed-source business blockchain solutions. As an illustration, we have a leader block, three batches of blocks, and each batch has three blocks in it. A public key that identifies the elected leader is contained in leader blocks, which are generated via proof of stake but do not contain transactions (player).

Each block has a header that includes, among other elements, a cryptographic hash of the predecessor header that serves as the block’s unique reference (either a key block or a microblock). The cryptographic hash of a key block’s header must be smaller than the goal value, just like in Bitcoin, for it to be considered genuine. A key block in Waves-NG holds a public key that will be applied to upcoming micro blocks.

ADVANTAGES OF WAVES

WAVES can be used to develop an extensive blockchain ecosystem that offers several capabilities required for corporate adoption. An entirely new world of NFTs, DAOs and other new business models is made possible by Waves. It offers incredibly quick service at incredibly low prices. It also aims to maximize blockchain technology while leaving a small carbon footprint. Waves provide easy interoperability by connecting to various ecosystems.

Fixed Fees: Other than network overload, all network fees are fixed. Protocol designing and its smart contract language allowed for the implementation of this capability. Similar to ordinary contracts in every way, smart contracts operate on blockchain as protocols as opposed to being written on paper.
Swift transactions: The protocol aims to support 1,000 transactions per second or more. This is crucial for DeFi apps with numerous users and frequently low-volume transactions.
Staking: With the Waves protocol, token owners of WAVES are able to earn a passive income by staking their tokens.
User-friendly: Waves ecosystem strives to offer a single point of entry.
Developer ecosystem – The Waves ecosystem aims to provide a range of products, tools, and elements to simplify the creation and administration of DApps.

WAVES WHITEPAPER SUMMARY (TOKENOMICS)

With 100 million available tokens at launch in 2016, WAVES was a fixed-cap token for the Waves platform. 85% of the supply in its ICO, which collected 30,000 BTC, was distributed to sale participants, 9% to the developers, 4% to partners and supporters, and 1% to early backers and bounty programs that were held after the ICO. In June 2016, the token entered the market for roughly $1.

On August 2, 2016, the price of WAVES hit a record low of $0.1227, and on May 4, 2021, it reached a high of $41.33. With time, its usefulness grew, and in 2019, the supply cap was removed, with decision-making shifting to network users. Users must decide whether or not to reduce the block reward by 0.5 WAVES every 110,000 blocks in order to adjust the current block reward of 6 WAVES.

Waves’ current live price is USD 6.16, and its 24-hour trading volume is USD 297,262,499 as of today (11-08-2022). In the past 24 hours, Waves has increased 7.34%. With a live market cap of USD 671,790,086. There are 109,028,044 Waves coins in circulation. When token owners decided to convert WAVES from a fixed asset to an inflationary one in October 2019, resulting in the situation that the overall amount of tokens may rise over time.

Additional Read: Ethereum Whitepaper Summary

WAVES PRICE PERFORMANCE OVER THE YEARS

WAVES/USD | Source: Tradingview

WAVES FACES STIFF COMPETITION IN THE CRYPTO SPACE

Hyperledger – Hyperledger is a collaborative project designed to improve blockchain technology by identifying and addressing crucial components of an open, cross-industry standard for distributed ledgers that has the potential to revolutionize how commerce is done around the world.
Mastercard Blockchain – By enabling businesses and financial institutions to transact on a distributed ledger, Mastercard Blockchain opens up new prospects for digital value transfers in commerce. This technology can support numerous use cases and help remove time, expense, and risk from financial transactions.
Harmony – A quick and open blockchain is Harmony. Its main net supports Ethereum apps with 100 times cheaper fees and 2-second transaction finality. Cross-chain asset transfers are available with Ethereum, Binance, and other chains via Harmony’s safe bridges. It provides a forum for users to interact with their audience. Any Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake chains are compatible with Harmony’s bridges.
Solana – The open infrastructure needed for widespread adoption is provided by the Solana blockchain, which is quick, safe, and resistant to censorship. The top DeFi, Web3, and blockchain gaming projects opt to construct on Solana in the long run. Up to 50k transactions can be processed per second using Solana.

WAVES WHITEPAPER SUMMARY (ROADMAP & VISION)

Waves set out to improve on the early blockchain platforms and goods as one of the first offers in its industry. Its first goal was to attract potential company customers who wanted to use blockchain to enhance workflows or develop new services. Waves assisted in the creation of smart contracts and DApps, guaranteeing that their speeds and usability outperformed those of the competitors at the time.

Since then, further products have emerged, such as the cross-chain and oracle network Gravity and the platform Neutrino which focuses on decentralized finance (DeFi). A decentralized crypto exchange is called Waves DEX. By making the WAVES token an ERC-20 standard asset in 2020, Waves declared that its platform will be compatible with the Ethereum network.

Read more: Defi Staking Guide

CONCLUSION

Waves has come out to be unquestionably one of the finest open-source decentralized blockchain technologies. Waves makes it possible to create and exchange cryptocurrency tokens without writing lengthy smart contract code, instead, on the Waves blockchain, tokens can be produced and managed by scripts that run-in user accounts. The concept is that the creation of new tokens (and the applications that control them) shouldn’t diverge significantly from the release of a conventional web application.

To achieve this, programs and applications are launched as a part of these transactions, and new assets are assigned a special identification number. Scripts can only be added when the asset is created. The Waves ecosystem has a built-in decentralized exchange called Waves. An exchange that enables trading between tokens issued on the Waves blockchain and other WAVES tokens. These assets are intended to be traded inside this ecosystem. Thus, making Waves a suitable decentralized technology.

HOW TO INVEST IN WAVES CRYPTO TOKEN

Use this three-step process to buy your first WAVES token using the CoinDCX, crypto investing app.

Sign Up for the CoinDCX account: Enter a valid email address and a user name on the sign-up page. Once the Email Id has been verified, set a strong password to secure your account.
Verify the account: You need to complete your KYC, to buy a WAVES token on the CoinDCX platform. All you need to do is upload the documents and your account will be set up in 15 minutes.
Buy WAVES INR: After the account has been verified, you can deposit any amount of fiat currency you are comfortable with and start your crypto journey!

Read more: AVAX Whitepaper Summary

Disclaimer: User Generated Content – Original Content created by a member of BITS Pilani, under the consultation of Dr. Amit Dua, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus in association with CoinDCX. The views and opinions expressed within this post belong solely to the author.
Author: Dewang Sharma