What is RChain?
Purpose
RChain is a general-purpose smart contracting platform and blockchain. Its aim is to provide a decentralized, economically sustainable public compute infrastructure of internet scale.
In order to achieve this, a fundamentally different model of computation was needed. The technology that underlies RChain is the Rho-calculus, which enables concurrent computation on distributed systems. The RhoVM is at the very heart of the RChain network.
Contract logic on RChain is written in the Rholang language, which represents a bare-bones abstraction of the Rho-calculus. The platform is secured through a Proof of Stake consensus algorithm: Casper CBC.
Technology
The most significant technological differentiator between RChain and other blockchain platforms is its computational model of the Rho-calculus, which is inherently concurrent. Key properties that developers are excited about:
- Concurrent distributed systems programming
- Capability Security to support robust composition and cooperation without vulnerability
- Namespaces for sharding that scales like nature
- Behavioral Types that enable formal verification
Governance
RChain aims to built its technology openly and together. The main steward of the RChain platform is the RChain Cooperative. The Coop is committed to radical transparency. The members of the Coop make governance decisions through voting, the election of board members, and other key players. As of October 2018, the Coop has over 1600 members from across the globe.
Economics
The cryptocurrency associated with the RChain blockchain is called REV. Transaction costs are expressed in Phlogiston. These terms can be thought of as similar to "Ether" and "Gas" on the Ethereum platform, respectively.
Since consensus is achieved through PoS validators, there is no notion of 'mining' on RChain. Total supply of REV is 1,000,000,000. A distribution of RHOC in and around the coop is updated from time to time.
Becoming a validator is the way to earn transaction fees.