On Wednesday 3/15, Nexa hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Twitter Space. The hosts from Nexa were:
Luke (Marketing Manager)
Cyber (Community and Business Development Manager)
Paul (Director of Marketing, Infrastructure, and Communications)
Joining Luke, Cyber and Paul was:
Lead Developer of Nexa and Bitcoin Unlimited Andrew Stone.
This article summarizes the points discussed during the session for your convenience.
Q : How is Nexa approaching its marketing efforts?
A : Nexa aims to release a slew of videos and guides regarding topics in the Nexa universe. These materials are expected to provide a comprehensive understanding of what Nexa offers, including how the platform was launched, the tokenomic framework underpinning Nexa, and why users and developers should choose Nexa over other options. Most of this is happening behind the scenes, but the goal is to develop a robust social media strategy that will allow us to advertise these materials effectively. The guides and videos will be shared on multiple platforms, including Medium, Twitter, and other social media channels. Alongside these guides the team is also expanding Nexa’s reach by securing listings on more wallets and possible DEXs. (Luke)
Q: What is Optolo wallet and how is the Otoplo team working to facilitate infrastructure on Nexa?
A: Optolo wallet is a non-custodial and secure wallet designed to support the growth and adoption of the Nexa blockchain. The team behind Optolo wallet is primarily focused on developing key infrastructure, products, and services for the blockchain. They recently introduced a desktop version of the wallet that offers enhanced security features and offline cold storage capabilities. Additionally, the team plans to enable users to create and manage tokens and NFTs directly on the wallet, and they will feature a user-friendly Token API that developers can leverage to integrate tokens into their applications. The wallet will also enable instant transactions, which means users can have their payments credited instantly without any additional verification steps. This technology is expected to be rolled out between July and September of this year. (Paul)
Q: What is the future of mining on Nexa?
A: Currently the Nexa algorithm consists of 256-hashing and schnorr signature verification. Currently this algorithm is intentionally incomplete, missing yet the soon to be added task of UTXO lookups or essentially confirming that funds are available in each wallet during the transaction. Peter Rizun, Chief Scientist of Nexa and Bitcoin Unlimited is currently working on this. The new algorithm will incentivize the creation of specialized machines for nodes to optimize UTXO set lookups and validation of transactions. The hope is to keep initial hardware costs for nodes to under $1,000, while allowing for the most efficient nodes in the industry. The inclusion of signature verification technology and UTXO lookups in the algorithm will speed up transaction processing times and give Nexa immense amount of scale not seen before with POW. These updates are expected to make the Nexa network more efficient, more scalable and the most cost-effective for users around the world. A proper presentation of the new algorithm and the associated hardware is currently in the works by Peter Rizun. (Paul)
Q : What is the difference between Nexa’s abilities compared to coins like Ethereum?
A : Nexa is aiming to distinguish itself from other chains like Ethereum by creating a foundation for a global financial system that is accessible to everyone in a fast, easy, and trustless manner. The goal is to surpass the size of large centralized platforms and attract developers by providing scalability while keeping a significant amount of programmability for smart contracts. There is a major problem with Ethereum with users not understanding the smart contracts and tokens they are getting involved with. Which leads to many users trusting harmful contracts and tokens which risk users and their coins.
Nexa has a different solution, by using a non-turing complete smart contract system with Native (on Layer 1 chain), Nexa will make creating a token/SC more transparent, giving users a clear understanding of what their contracts will do. Another addition are native tokens, which allows tokens to be treated just like the NEXA coin itself, making it easier to track and develop rules for the token. Unlike ERC20 tokens, which are costly to create and transfer, with native tokens it will be easy for everyone in the ecosystem to use and understand what they are getting into while being fast and cheap. While non-turing complete sacrifices some programming capabilities to achieve scalability, it still retains 95% of programming capability. This in-turn will create a fast, easy, and trustless global financial system that is accessible to everyone, with the ability to scale for everyone. It’s by this that Nexa hopes to attract developers and become the go-to platform for creating innovative applications. (Paul/Andrew)
Q : What are the pros and cons of Nexa smart contracts compared to the usual ETH smart contracts? Why will developers choose it?
A : There are several advantages to using Nexa smart contracts compared to the usual ETH smart contracts. First of all, Nexa smart contracts are easier to understand, allowing all participants to know exactly what they will do. Additionally, Nexa will provide Native Tokens which will treat tokens just like the Nexa coin itself, making it easier to track the coin, customize its rules, and so much more. Another benefit is that ERC20 costs way more than sending ETH itself, which is not the case with Nexa. Due to Nexa having a higher capacity compared to ETH, it will never have the same problems as ETH. Developers may choose Nexa smart contracts for these reasons and because they want to take advantage of the benefits offered by the Nexa ecosystem. (Paul/Andrew)
Q : How does Kaspa and Nexa differ in their approaches to solving scalability?
A : While both Kaspa and Nexa aim to improve scalability, they use different mechanisms. Kaspa uses many small, fast blocks to solve the orphan problem, while Nexa uses adaptive huge block sizes and eliminates the bottlenecks that limit scalability: such as signature verification and UTXO lookups. By including signature verifications and UTXO lookups into the mining algorithm Nexa will be able to remove these bottlenecks for immense amounts of scale. We believe at Nexa we have a superior solution to scaling by utilizing hardware to scale, we will be able to achieve capacity of 100,000+ TPS enabling over 10 billion transactions per day. All while on one single-block chain Layer 1 solution, with a full ecosystem of smart contracts and tokens. (Cyber/Paul)
Q : How does Nexa address the orphan problem? what is the role of Nexa script in the project?
A : Nexa addresses the orphan problem by using a technology developed by BU, where the amount of information transmitted is negligible when transmitting block information. On Nexa, this factor decreases by 99% as the block size increases. (Paul)
Q:What is the role of Nexscript in the project?
NEXscript will be a new scripting language used to write smart contracts on the NEXA blockchain. It will be a javascript like language that will be easy for developers to understand and develop on. I will play a crucial role in the project by facilitating the creation and execution of smart contracts and attracting DAPPs. (Paul)
Q : What is the process to become a member of BU, and if you have an idea for BU, what should you do to propose it?
A : To become a member of BU, you need to ask to be a member and get voted in, although it is now harder to become a member than it used to be. If you have an idea for BU, you should write up a BUIP (Bitcoin Unlimited Improvement Proposal), get a member to propose it, and start writing code to implement it. This can be a great way to contribute to the project and make your mark in the Bitcoin community. Its important to note, that non BU members can request/propose projects and actually get funding from BU. And that all developers are invited and encouraged to get involved in building on Nexa. (Andrew)
Q : What are some usage cases for Native tokens and Smart Contracts on Nexa
A : Native tokens and smart contracts can be used for various purposes such as betting, prediction markets, creating new NFTs, fencing, group tokens/rules and much more. Smart contracts can be programmed to execute actions automatically based on predefined conditions, allowing for secure and transparent transactions. Nexa smart contracts will be robust and easy to understand for all participants. Native tokens differ from other tokens in ETH for example, as don’t require a smart contract to enforce token semantics. Additionally, NEXA tokens are very compressible, with just 32 bytes needed to represent them. (Andrew)
Q : What kind of timeline do you envision for tokens and projects on NEXA?
A : Timelines are hard to predict. While we keep evolving the blockchain to be more efficient, we will continue to polish and improve the services offered. Each time we circle around, we will make it a little better. However, it is difficult to predict when third-party developers will start working on projects on NEXA. We are realistic that it may take some time for developers to get accustomed to programming in Nexscript on a non-Turing complete chain, vs. solidity, but we believe once exposed to the benefits of our system vs. eth turing-complete tokens, we will carve out a true need in the market. (Andrew)