Trustchain is a proprietary proof-of-stake consensus protocol developed by the COTI network to power high-performance decentralized payment solutions. In this guide, we’ll examine how Trustchain works and the key features it brings to blockchain-based transactions.
The Technology Overview
Trustchain utilizes a directed acyclic graph (DAG) based structure to validate transactions and add new blocks. Network nodes must stake COTI coins to participate in the consensus process and earn rewards.
Trustchain employs a hybrid approach combining proof-of-stake security with aspects of proof-of-work style leader election and chain selection algorithms. This allows it to optimize for speed, scalability, and low transaction fees.
Some standout capabilities Trustchain enables include near-instant transaction finality, 10,000+ TPS throughput, zero-fee transactions, and highly efficient decentralized governance.
Instant Finality
A key innovation of Trustchain is settlement finality that occurs instantly upon broadcast to the network. This is achieved through a consensus process that requires a majority of online staking weight to attest transactions.
Once confirmed by enough TrustScore weight, transactions are finalized within 1-2 seconds. This enables use cases like retail payments where recipients get instant notification.
High Throughput
Trustchain is designed to support massive scalability to rival payment giants like Visa. By utilizing a lightweight DAG structure, parallel block building, and optimized consensus, it can process 10,000+ TPS theoretically.
This high throughput ensures the network can support heavy transaction flows with consistent performance and without congestion bottlenecks.
Zero Fees
Trustchain allows senders to optionally specify transactions as zero-fee. These are prioritized for inclusion by nodes to encourage commerce and exchanges of value.
Nodes still receive compensation from the staking rewards pool based on their TrustScore, ensuring sustainability of fee-less transactions.
Decentralized Governance
On-chain governance is built into the Trustchain protocol to align incentives. COTI holders can propose and vote on upgrades, with voting power based on staked holdings.
This enables collective control of the payment network. Active staking participation in the consensus process is rewarded with higher governance influence.
Conclusion
With its innovative hybrid consensus model, Trustchain offers an impressive combination of speed, scalability, finality, and usability that makes it well-suited for real-world finance and payments.
As COTI continues deployment, Trustchain represents a promising next-generation base layer that may expand the horizons of blockchain scalability, efficiency, and decentralization.