Everscale

What is Everscale (EVER)?

Everscale is a next-generation blockchain platform that uses sharding to offer some of the highest transactions-per-second (TPS) rates in the industry.

A fork of the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain designed by Nikolai Durov, meaning that it was created on the basis of TON’s code, Everscale powers an ecosystem of dApps (decentralized applications) and charges only a small fee for transferring digital assets.

Everscale even includes cross-chain bridges to widen the world of blockchain interoperability, connecting with some of the top blockchains in the industry, including Cardano, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and more.

How Does Everscale Work?

Everscale is based on a sharded design with an architecture that includes two main components.

The first of these is called the masterchain, which is needed for service and validator contracts. This chain contains information regarding the entire network and records values sent to it by workchains, the second broad type of component in Everscale.

Workchains are for users and can have different formats of account addresses, transactions, and even virtual machines. The main difference between the workchains and the masterchain is that all block proofs from all chains are sent to the masterchain.

Everscale validators are assigned to one of the chains, whether masterchain or workchain and can view all of its associated data. They download, store, and change the state of all the programs and some other parameters of this particular chain.

Since these validators do not store the state data of another chain but only the one they are assigned to, the system can be referred to as “sharded.”

Sharding improves scalability, but Everscale doesn’t stop there. Atop this sharded architecture comes multithreading, or parallel execution. This is done by each validator of the same workchain being assigned a thread. This way, there are groups of validators to execute different sets of smart contracts, which are separated by accounts.

According to the Everscale whitepaper, this ability to add validators linearly when more programs need to be executed is what makes the system “infinitely scalable.”

More workchains and more threads can be added to the system dynamically, and when the program load reduces, there can be fewer threads and even just one workchain.

What makes Everscale Unique?

Everscale is unique for its dynamic scaling system involving workchains and threading, giving it extremely high capabilities when it comes to performance.

The workchains that are added when more processing power is needed are called processing workchains, but there’s another type called peripheral workchains. These operate much like peripherals for a computer, like printers. Ever OS, the Everscale distributed operating system, uses these peripheral workchains in much the same way.

Drivechains, for example, can offer Ever OS a form of decentralized storage. Peripheral workchains can be specially optimized and purpose-built, and anyone can launch a peripheral workchain at any time while providing economic incentives for validators to join.

Everscale is a dynamic and thoughtfully designed network and has already seen considerable adoption. Partly thanks to the support of multiple programming languages for its smart contracts, its ecosystem has been fleshed out by plenty of developers and already boasts wallets, bridges, decentralized bots, exchanges, and NFTs.

How is the Everscale Network Secured?

Everscale is a proof-of-stake blockchain. As mentioned, it has validators whose purpose is to ensure the correctness of the blockchain by validating blocks. They bond a fee, or stake, to the protocol, which they stand to lose if they fail to perform their duty, and on the other hand, define how well they’re rewarded if they behave according to the protocol.

Everscale validator node operators must deploy a special smart contract and use it to stake EVER. They also have to run a server that signs a message to the smart contract saying it’s ready to validate blocks. Users without enough EVER coins can’t run a validator node, but they can delegate their stake to a validator of their choice.

Security could certainly decrease in a sharded system where validators are assigned to small parts of the network rather than the network as a whole. Everscale addresses this with a system called Soft Majority Fault Tolerance, or SMFT.

A validator who proposes a new block is called a “Collator.” A Collator produces a block and sends it not only to thread validators but to all validators. While all of the validators don’t validate all of the blocks, they do possess them.

Every validator runs a calculation on the block hash, and via this algorithm, only a few validators need to validate the block in addition to those in their purview. These validators are called “Verifiers” and are selected randomly by the algorithmic function.

What is the Use of EVER?

The native token, or simply coin, of Everscale is EVER. The tokens are also known simply as Evers. The EVER cryptocurrency captures the value of all community-sponsored projects and is used for the payment of network transactions and storage fees.

EVER is also used in the EVER DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization where EVER holders can make on-chain governance decisions for the entire network.

There are also wrapped versions of the EVER coin on different blockchains, including Ethereum and the BNB Chain.

How Much EVER is In Circulation?

The EVER cryptocurrency has a maximum supply of just over 2 billion coins, with over 1.7 billion already in circulation.

In the Everscale whitepaper, author Mitja Goroshevsky outlines a token distribution model called “MTD” or Meritocratic Token Distribution. This begins with community members proposing a contest in which all members can participate. If it is agreed that the end result benefits the community and network as a whole, rewards are voted on, a jury is selected, and tokens are distributed to the winners.

Pareto optimality is achieved by this model via token holders distributing tokens for the perceived increase in the value of the network. The efforts of different active participants from decentralized communities, which exchange their labor for the network’s native token allow them to become token holders.

With this philosophy in mind, Everscale launched without any private or public investment rounds. However, the project did run a program called Crystal Hands, where the group of companies making up the Everscale DeFi Alliance was allocated 280 million EVER.

How Do You Buy EVER?

You can buy EVER coins on a handful of reputed cryptocurrency exchanges, but EVER still isn’t as widely listed as most projects with VC backing. It’s easy enough to buy on decentralized exchanges, though, whether that’s WEVER on Ethereum, BNB Chain, or EVER itself on an Everscale DEX like Flatqube.

How Do You Store EVER?

Everscale’s documentation provides a full list of suitable wallets to store your EVER coins. Many of these are non-custodial, meaning that you can be in full control of your coins. The Everscale ecosystem includes non-custodial wallets for almost every platform, including iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

Is EVER a Good Investment?

Everscale is a powerful platform that has garnered considerable interest from the community thanks to its performance characteristics and seemingly decentralized, fair-launched nature.

Speed and scalability are key conundrums in the blockchain industry, and many of the top blockchains have struggled with this area for years. Everscale provides a powerful alternative and seems, on paper, to be a fantastic solution for Web3 developers.

Still, it is also a relatively new project, and proof of its viability will come with longevity and time in the market.