What is Opera Mainnet (Fantom)?

Opera Mainnet (Fantom) is an open-source framework that enables the possibility for anyone to partake in the network through governance and staking. It was launched in December of 2019, therefore, it was the most recent operating blockchain.

The native token of Fantom (FTM) is used in the network for staking, on-chain governance, and platform fees.

Lachesis consensus mixes proof-of-stake (PoS) and Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance (aBFT) consensus mechanisms as a way to achieve cheaper and speedier transactions as opposed to other blockchains. It is used by Fantom and also offers a very safe environment.

The Fantom Opera Mainnet is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and offers smart contracts support using Solidity.

What is Lachesis?

Instead of copying the proof-of-work (PoW) operations that are utilized in Bitcoin and Ethereum, Fantom uses its personal consensus strategy named Lachesis. The strategy allows Fantom to operate in a way faster manner and be more high-performance than previous versions.

The enthusiasts of the network indicate that Lachesis is perfect for applications that, because of its speed, need a big amount of throughput.

Furthermore, the issue that made it possible that only two or three requirements might be included in consensus algorithms at the same time, has been solved.

Lachesis was famous for having an Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus process. Fantom's creators claim to have identified a solution to the scaling issue with blockchains. It is critical that this can be accomplished without jeopardizing other essential network features such as security and decentralization.

The key advantage of Lachesis over Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerant (pBFT) consensus systems is its resilience to distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). Furthermore, aBTF systems are intended to be quicker than pBFT-based consensus approaches.

Fantom’s Architecture

The Opera Core, Opera Ware, and Application Layer are the three layers that make up the Fantom architecture running on top of each other. Fantom is unique in that it needs a second type of node known as an observer node to validate transactions and uses the dPOS approach to choose validating nodes. In addition, users must have at least 1,000,000 FTM in order to employ a validator.

The Lachesis Protocol's bottom is Opera Core, which is in charge of keeping node consensus. Each transaction is stored on each node.

In the middle, is Opera Ware and it enabled the protocol to run tasks such as providing incentives and developing Story Data.

On top is the Opera Application which contains APIs that are accessible to the public and enable developers to connect with the Opera Ware layer using their dApps.

Applications such as supply-chain management need recordings of information from an application that has this function and is developed from its Story Data.

What is the Fantom Virtual Machine?

Firstly, the Fantom Virtual Machine is utilized on the mainnet of Fantom Opera. It is essentially a Fantom’s software development supply that offers the tools to develop and implement dApps (Decentralized Finance apps).

Opera also supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

It allows developers to move their apps that are Ethereum-based and decentralized to the Fantom network without any complexity. This also guarantees that it will be fitting with the most prominent smart contract-based platform.

How is Fantom Different?

Firstly, since the blocks in the Fantom network are self-retained it is more decentralized. All of the decentralized applications that operate on their personal blockchain are connected to the Lachesis consensus.

Like any other proof-of-stake blockchain, Lachesis’ PoS mechanism enables validators to issue new blocks by staking their FTM. The aBFT protocol is the major factor of the Lachesis consensus because it makes it possible for nodes to build blocks individually.

In that regard, nodes are able to come to an agreement on their own by using a two-factor confirmation mechanism as long as they obtain a majority of two-thirds. This removes the requirement of a leader node to create blocks, increasing the speed of the transactions and keeping superior protection.

Furthermore, Bitcoin and Ethereum are first-and second-generation blockchains, correspondingly, and were not designed to scale. Decentralization and security were the most critical considerations.

As a result, network transaction rates drop down, especially if more nodes are added. A transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain network, for example, may take up to 15 minutes. Transactions on the Fantom network, on the other hand, might be executed in a couple of moments.

The Byzantine Fault Tolerance approach enables consensus even when there are faulty or malicious nodes in the network. It could possibly handle up to one-third of the network's faulty or malicious nodes without producing a service disruption.

Also, Fantom is permissionless. Meaning that everyone can operate a node.