Many decentralized file storage blockchain solutions have come to the market. To date no company has set out to create a solution for the decentralized database problem. As the use of decentralized applications or dApps grows on the Ethereum ecosystem the need for an appropriate decentralized database provider is long overdue. Bluzelle positions itself as a marketplace for data storage and management in the sharing economy.
What Are The Benefits of Bluzelle?
It is estimated that by 2020 there will be over 20 billion connect devices to the internet. Every one of these will require massive amounts of data to be sent and received. Bluzelle provides a platform for enterprise-grade database solutions at a price that regular dApp developers can afford. It also provides reliability as the network nodes are spread across the globe and there can be no single point of failure. The database structure is easily scalable so that dApps can grow with the amount of information that is collected. It is secure as the risk of hacker exploits are minimal and the data is spread across many different devices.
How Does Bluzelle Work?
At its core Bluzelle uses swarm technology. This means that the network consists of groups of computers that collaborate to manage and store data. These nodes are independent players and can join or leave the network as they wish.
Bluzelle is actually a meta-swarm meaning it has multiple swarms or networks within the main network. Also at its core is a technique called sharding or System for Highly Available Replicated Data. A shard can be seen as a single chunk or a small piece of data. This works like downloading a web torrent where data is requested in parallel from the nearest swarm or seed. The little chunks of data are then collected in an efficient manner which in turn translates to high performance. In this way Bluzelle has to deal with consensus differently than other blockchains.
How Does Bluzelle Deal With Consensus?
There is no need for a network-wide agreement as in other blockchain technologies where the entire blockchain needs to be synchronized. Consensus is reached on a swarm level where devices agree on the localized data. Bluzelle has customized proof of storage consensus where nodes have to prove that they have the correct data.
How Do You Use Bluzelle?
You can use Bluzelle as either a consumer of a producer. Consumers are the developers who use the database services for their dApps and have to buy and spend tokens. There is protection built into the blockchain in the form of Ethereum smart contracts where a consumer will get a refund of tokens if, for example the provider did not meet the agreed service levels. A producer is anyone who rents out their computer resources on the Bluzelle network and earns BLZ tokens. The underlying infrastructure of Bluzelle runs its own blockchain and BNT tokens.
What are the BLZ and BNT Tokens?
BLZ is an Ethereum ERC-20 token that is supported on exchanges and was sold in the Bluzelle token sale which ended in January of 2018, raising $19 million in funding for the company with a total token supply of 500million. Once you have BLZ tokens, you can exchange them on the Bluzelle network for BNT tokens.
BNT is an internal token required on the Bluzelle blockchain. Tokens are automatically converted from BLZ to BNT on the Bluzelle Token Gateway to create a seamless experience for users. The Ethereum blockchain, as it stands, is too slow and expensive to use for real-time database reading and writing operations so the BNT token takes care of this process at zero extra cost. It creates a parallel blockchain to the main Ethereum network that ensures a high performance.
How Can You Buy Bluzelle BLZ?
You are not able to purchase BLZ with “Fiat” currency so you will need to first purchase another currency – the easiest to buy are Bitcoin or Ethereum which you can do at Coinbase using a bank transfer or debit / credit card purchase and then trade that for BLZ at an exchange such as Binance.
Register at Coinbase
For first time buyers of crypto currency, we recommend that you use Coinbase to make your first purchase – its easy to use, fully regulated by the US government so you know it is one of the safest and most reputable places to purchase cryptocurrency from. Coinbase offers the ability to purchase Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum with a credit or debit card or by sending a bank transfer. The fees are higher for cards but you will receive your currency instantly.
You will have to carry out some identity verification when signing up as they have to adhere to strict financial guidelines.
Make sure you use our link to signup you will be credited with $10 in free bitcoin when you make your first purchase of $100.
To get started, click the “Sign up” button where you will be taken to a registration form where you will need to enter your name, email and choose a password.
Purchase Ethereum
For this guide, we will be purchasing Ethereum to swap for our target cryptocurrency. The reason for this is that it has far cheaper fees than bitcoin for sending and the transaction also happens a lot faster. So in Coinbase, visit the “Buy / Sell” tab at the top, select “Ethereum”, choose your payment method and enter the amount you wish to purchase – you can either enter a US Dollar amount or a number of Ether.
You will then be asked to confirm your transaction, if paying with a card you might have to complete a verification with your card provider. Once that’s complete, your Ethererum will be added to your account.
Purchase BLZ at Binance
You can now send your Ether over to Binance to make your purchase of BLZ, take a look at our review of Binance here to see how to signup and purchase on their exchange.
What Are Some Applications for Bluzelle?
Prediction markets that require fast access to reliable data to attract new customers and provide a trustworthy service. This requires a massive amount of data to make informed decisions. Historical data can be used to help people make better predictions based on fact and not only speculation. Next, decentralized currency exchanges need an off-chain database for relayers. Relayers are the mechanisms that takes care of storing and updating the order book and calculating fees based on trades. Lastly, data streaming networks connected to Internet of Things (IoT) devices like smart cars also require databases. These devices collect immense amounts of data which need to be stored and managed. They provide this to the network at a cost but also get information from the network for which they have to pay using BLZ tokens.
How Does Bluzelle Make Money?
There is a small transaction fee on the conversion of the BLZ token to the internal BNT token. This is automatically subtracted from the transaction and sent to an Ethereum wallet owned by Bluzelle.
How Is The System Moderated To Ensure Quality?
Each producer on the blockchain will have a rating on the “Karma index” system. This is a score that shows how well they have contributed to the network. This score will increase with good behaviour and points removed for negative behavior. The score relates to their performance as a whole. For example, if one of their devices has delivered a poor service then their entire rating is affected on the system.
Is The Team Credible?
The Bluzelle team has 10 main members that are skilled in business, marketing and technology. The co-founders have a vast amount of digital experience. The CEO Pavel Bains has launched his own tech startup as well as client-managed Disney Studios for a video game company. His business partner Neeraj Murarka is an experienced engineer and computer systems architect and most notably the fourth employee of the blockchain startup Zeroblock.
What is The Roadmap?
The Bluzelle team has set out an extensive roadmap that will roll out over the next two years. Their short term goals include building a Bluzelle Developer Community centered around developers. Developers are easy to reach online and are an ideal target market for emerging solutions. The aim is to tap into their passion for technology and to get them to build exciting products that function on the Bluzelle ecosystem. This will also help with feedback to create a solid product for the future consumers of Bluzelle.
What Does The Bluzelle Ecosystem Look Like?
The aim is to get Bluzelle integrated into cloud products that developers use so that they can easily find and implement it. The idea is that when developers deploy their dApps using a cloud hosting service they can easily select Bluzelle’s decentralized database without additional knowledge of how to set it up. Also, integrating Bluzelle with the most popular programming IDEs will target native app developers. Built-in tools for operating systems and popular browsers are also planned so that developers can easily access and store table data.
Does Bluzelle Have a Regional Focus?
The company has office in both Singapore and Canada. Their aim is to gain a foothold in two of the most anticipated regions for growth in the dApps economy namely US/Canada and Asia Pacific.
Conclusion
Bluzelle has a very good business case and fills a niche in distributed database computing services. The service is meant to be used in conjunction with other decentralized cloud offerings such as decentralized file hosting for building reliable and scalable dApps that are affordable and secure.
