Issue 4 2021

The Alternative Future of Finance Leading Innovators in Decentralized Finance 2021 – UK Radix DLT is the first layer-1 protocol built specifically to serve DeFi, or Decentralised Finance, a global network born from the internet and finance that offers innovative alternatives to all financial products. We find out more about the ground-breaking technology that powers Radix and discover how it is shaping the future of finance. Established in 2013, Radix DLT was created by Dan Hughes after he discovered Bitcoin and its accompanying promise and challenges. Fast forward to 2020, and the cryptocurrency space has seen the arrival of this digital finance phenomenon, DeFi (or Decentralised Finance), a concept which culminates from the combination of finance and the internet. DeFi is a global connected network that utilises blockchain and distributed leger technology to offer viable alternatives to the financial products that are used by individuals and organisations across the world today. DeFi is an industry that is growing rapidly, having seen an increase of the assets in its system from around $1 billion to more than $60 billion in the past year alone. Since the firm’s inception, Founder Dan Hughes and his global team of IT and financial experts have been developing technologies to serve the specific needs of DeFi, moving away from traditional public ledgers like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Algorand, which are decentralised public networks that have not been designed to handle DeFi applications. Whereas those traditional networks treat consensus operations like a single lane of traffic, Radix sought to create a system that mirrored a superhighway, capable of processing huge numbers of transactions simultaneously, and resolving one of the key issues facing the blockchain industry: scalability. The result is Cerberus, a revolutionary consensus protocol that takes a fresh approach to sharding – the process commonly used to break huge databases down into smaller, more manageable chunks. While there are several companies in the blockchain industry exploring sharding for its capacity in scalability, Radix is going one step further with Cerberus, which enables single transactions to occur across multiple shards. As a result, if data is needed for a transaction that is stored on multiple shards, Cerberus can ‘braid’ those shards together without splitting the transaction into component parts in a process called atomic composability. For DeFi, composability is essential for enabling financial operations between different decentralised applications in a single transaction. While maintaining composability, Cerberus’ sharding methods also solve the Blockchain Trilemma, a common challenge faced throughout the industry. The Trilemma states that a blockchain system cannot have security, scalability and decentralisation at the same time, without compromising on at least one of the qualities. This is because earlier systems were never designed to deliver a no-compromise financial infrastructure when they were built for decentralisation. Cerberus’ unique composability system has changed that. Radix will also introduce the Radix Engine, a purpose-built programming environment that offers a new way for developers to build DeFi applications. The system uses ‘Components’ and has been specifically designed for financial applications using finite state machines, which are ordinarily used in mission-critical systems that rely heavily on predictable correctness. The combination of the Radix Engine with Cerberus is what will enable Radix to build a new, global network that optimally serves the financial systems of today and tomorrow. To be able to transform the global financial landscape, Radix roots itself in a clear mission and values, with clearly outlined objectives: to solve the world’s most expensive problem of buying, holding and selling assets; to build a Defi platform that provides frictionless access, liquidity and programmability to any asset in the world, beginning with crypto; and to build a global community on Radix that continues to build on that access, liquidity and composability. That clear mission combined with strong values that centre around growth, compassion, planning and constant innovation unifies the globally distributed Radix team, which includes people based in North America, Europe and Asia. Radix is proud of the talent it has recruited, utilising the diverse experience and expertise in the blockchain industry and the niche field of layer-1 protocol serving DeFi to achieve a united goal. Together these teams are striving to be at the forefront of distributed ledger technology as it builds the global financial network of the future. Thus, 2021 is shaping up to a big year for Radix as it moves towards that goal, with several key initiatives already underway. The year began with the launch of a non-profit alliance called GoodFi.com, that is aiming to get 100 million users to put at least a dollar into DeFi by 2025. GoodFi has already welcomed high profile members to form a community dedicated to reducing barriers into the industry by increasing understanding around DeFi and growing awareness of its benefits to consumers. By the end of the year, Radix will have also launched the Radix Mainnet as part of its Olympia release, which will form the foundation of its fully decentralised public network and the first step towards building the next generation global financial system. Following that will be the Alexandria release, which will be the introduction of the Radix Engine to clients, giving them the means to begin developing programs for DeFi applications that will play a major role in Radix’s revolutionary future of finance. Contact: Piers Ridyard Company: Radix DLT Web Address: www.radixdlt.com Feb21224