[DrRon Suarez]

Notta AI –

Summary

The transcript summarizes a presentation by Justin Kilpatrick, co-founder of Althea, on the design decisions and tradeoffs made in building Althea 01, a layer 1 blockchain tailored for Althea’s decentralized bandwidth market application. Key points covered include not needing enormous block space due to bounded transaction frequency, the ability to parallelize simple value transactions, the critical importance of lightweight clients for query load, and framing data availability as a logistics not financialization problem.

ChaptersLimited Block Space Needed

Bandwidth transactions are physically bounded unlike financial transactions, with frequency limited by system latency and finality times around 4-8 seconds. Even with continuous 4K video streaming, transaction demand caps around thousands per minute, addressable on a simple optimized chain.

Easier to Scale Than General Computation

Simple direct value transfers parallelize easily while EVM requires serial execution, benefiting less from parallelization. A hybrid model with efficient bandwidth transactions plus integrated EVM suits Althea’s needs.

Light Clients Critical for Query Loads

Effective light clients are vital to support enormous user query loads from devices like routers, unlike DeFi’s lower query assumption. Instant finality enables proofs for fast, lightweight bootstrap.

Data Availability as Logistics Not Financialization

Required data is cheap to store so availability is about having enough lower-footprint nodes. Intelligent light clients can store partial blockchain data to serve queries.

Action Items

• Research light client options compatible with Tendermint consensus
• Explore hybrid chain designs optimizing parallelizable transactions
• Model projected query load from user devices to size RPC infrastructure