We’re joined by Greg Meredith and Nash Foster of the RChain Cooperative. A fundamentally new kind of blockchain platform, RChain is rooted in a formal model of concurrent and decentralized computation. Powered by the Rho Virtual Machine, and secured by Casper proof-of-stake, RCain is partitioned, or shareded by default, forming a network of coordinated and parallel blockchains. The project, which is formed as a coop, leverages correct-by-construction software development to produce a concurrent, compositional, and massively scalable blockchain. Topics covered in this episode: How Rchain spun out of the Synereo project The primary objectives RChain seeks to establish The fundamental principles of RChain and RLang The concepts of concurrency and parallelism in simple terms How building concurrent systems implies scalability The unique features of Casper consensus in the context of RChain The importance of namespaces in RChain Why this project was started as a cooperative The current status of the project and roapmap Episode links: RChain Website RChain Rholang SDK (v0.1) Released A Visualization for the Future of Blockchain Consensus Introducing Rholang! at Devcon 2 This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/221

Hashgraph is a new consensus algorithm that radically differs from proof-of-work as well as proof-of-stake consensus algorithms. While work on Hashgraph begun in 2012, it’s design is radically different from today’s blockchain architectures. The Hashgraph team claims that it has found an optimal consensus algorithm design that will be impossible to significantly improve upon. We were joined by Mance Harmon, who is CEO of the Swirlds, the company developing Hashgraph. Our conversation covered the origin story of hashgraph, how it compares to existing consensus algorithms and how Hashgraph works. Topics covered in this episode: Leemon Baird and Mance Harmon’s long history of building companies together What motivated Leemon Baird to start working on Hashgraph in 2012 The existing categories of consensus algorithms and their problems How Hashgraph consensus combines voting and gossip protocols The performance characteristics of Hashgraph How a public Hashgraph network could look like Episode links: Hashgraph Homepage Hashgraph Whitepaper Hashgraph Consensus - Detailed Examples Sybil Attacks in Hashgraph Hidden Forces Podcast Episode on Hashgraph Lemon Baird's Talk on Hashgraph at Harvard Business School This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/219