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FAQs
Company
Analog is a decentralized, interoperable network that facilitates cross-chain transfer of event data to any chain.
We offer a future-proof immutable interoperability infrastructure where platform builders, dApp developers, and users can benefit from seamless cross-chain communication and asset transfers.
Analog will solve the following problems:
- It seamlessly connects all the chains. The Analog network is a layer-0, omnichain protocol that allows both current and new dApps to expand beyond the realms of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) or non-EVM.
- A consensus protocol that addresses the trilemma problem, i.e., scalable and superfast finality times, completely decentralized, and security within the web3 interoperability space.
- It establishes privacy mechanisms. The Analog network eliminates data privacy challenges via scalable zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) mechanisms. The network enables new use cases of secure and validated event data that businesses can use to foster network-wide insight generation.
The ANLOG token was minted as an ERC20 and BEP20 token in late July 2021 for the purpose of the first public sale that ran between August 16th and September 27th 2021. ANLOG will be minted on the Timechain once the mainnet is released where a swap and burn will take place. Currently, ANLOG has yet to be listed on any exchange, but the team has been in talks with several exchanges.
Technology
The Timegraph is an aggregated, on-chain database of all submitted real-work time information. It serves as an immutable and uncensorable version of history. Its searchable and filterable nature makes it highly flexible, enabling it to underpin many varied use cases.
The Timechain is Analog’s decentralized blockchain to which event data is submitted by nodes. Event data is uploaded on this chain in an ordered sequence and is verified to become immutable.
The Analog Timegraph API is an interface that allows for ease of interaction with the complex data stored in the Timegraph. For example, it could be used to search and collate event data submitted by a variety of different third-party users and present this data in an easily comprehensible dashboard. The API is essentially Analog’s front end to the Timegraph backend.
Analog’s Time Continuum is a smart contract execution and development platform that allows developers to create event data-specific smart contracts that run on the Analog Timechain. They are not controlled by a user, but instead deployed to the network and run as programmed. Rules are defined and enforced via the code. Continuum contracts cannot be deleted by default; interactions with them are irreversible. Users are able to interact with these smart contracts by submitting transactions that execute a function defined on the smart contract.
A time node is a participant in the network who confirms event data onto the Timechain.
Becoming a time node is easy. You’ll just need to download and register our client before proceeding.
If you need help, you’ll be able to get your questions answered on our #node-support channel on our Discord server.
The $ANLOG token is used to incentivize nodes to run the network. It further incentivizes publishers to submit event data and subscribers to subscribe to that data. $ANLOG is also used as a reward to encourage nodes to deepen and broaden the immutable history recorded on the Timechain by the submission and collation of event data.
The Analog Network refers to the interacting community of participants and technical mechanisms that power Analog and the Timegraph. Our time nodes, tesseract nodes, cross-chain event data transfer protocol (XCEDT), gateway smart contracts, dApps, developers and end-users all make up the Network.
The Analog Network relies on a wide variety of participants; platform builders, DApp developers, and users.
Here’s how various stakeholders participate in the Analog network:
- Platform builders: They can easily plug in their chains to all other networks. They only need to set up a threshold account to plug into these chains.
- DApp builders: They can host their DApps anywhere and communicate with other applications on different platforms via the Analog’s decentralized API.
- Users: Users can interact with all DApps across the entire Blockchain ecosystem directly from their Analog wallets.
There are four categories of nodes – publishers, time nodes, time electors, and tesseract nodes.
Publishers:
A publisher is any node that is incentivized to submit event data to Analog’s marketplace. Subscribers (consumers) can use the publisher’s event data to power Analog’s inherent dApps, applications implemented from other chains, microservices, and other intelligent data pipelines. Subscribers and other companies can subscribe to valuable event data from Publishers, creating a global event data marketplace pipeline with built-in provenance, access control, and privacy.
Time Nodes:
A time node is any node on the network that participates in the consensus process. Time nodes confirm blocks and append them to the Timechain. The authority of time nodes to confirm blocks emanates from their fixed stake and ranking scores. The more stake and ranking score a time node has, the more likely it will be selected to confirm blocks.
Time Electors:
A time elector is a special time node that proposes blocks to the Timechain. The probability of becoming a time elector is proportional to the fixed stake and a ranking score. Any time node can become a time elector provided it has a higher ranking score and fixed stake. The time elector must compute the VDF when proposing blocks to prove that the block was created after some time (delay). In other words, the PoT protocol ensures that timestamps become inbuilt into the Timechain.
Tesseract Nodes:
Tesseract nodes are special publishers that fetch event data from external chains. Any node can join the network as a Tesseract and fetch event data from external networks. A core component of Tesseract nodes is that they rely on decentralized protocols to fetch event data from outside networks. Besides fetching event data, Tesseract nodes also maintain and run cross-chain routing and transfer of event data from the network to target chains. The network’s governance rules enable the Tesseract nodes to enact crucial decisions such as which networks to interoperate with and which assets to support.
Like publishers, each tesseract is incentivized for every confirmed event event data that gets appended to the Timechain.
The protocol has no barriers to entry. Any user can participate in the consensus process provided they have a higher ranking score and have staked an equal amount of tokens in their accounts. This is because block generation does not require expensive hardware like the case with PoW or highest staked coins (PoS).
The Analog Network uses a PoT protocol that uses a ranking score and not the computational resources (PoW) or staked tokens (PoS). This means any user can join the network and participate in consensus without being hindered by staked coins or hardware. We have also incorporated block pipeling and multi-threading to help improve transaction throughput.
Prior to the launch of mainnet. We shall announce this at an appropriate time.
Use Cases
Analog is an open-access platform available to anyone, including:
- Platform builders: They can easily plug in their chains to all other networks. They only need to set up a threshold account to plug into these chains.
- DApp builders: They can host their DApps anywhere and communicate with other applications on different platforms via the Analog’s decentralized API.
- Users: Users can interact with all DApps across the entire Blockchain ecosystem directly from their Analog wallets.
Analog network empowers DApp developers to unlock the cross-chain transfer of value through validated event data. Due to the decentralized nature of its underlying infrastructure and an open Timegraph API, DApp developers can use the platform for a wide range of use cases, including:
- Decentralized finance (DeFi). The platform can unlock liquidity which is currently fractured and siloed through cross-chain communication of event data. This enables DApp developers to tap into a global liquidity and power a wide range of applications, including multi-chain DEX, multi-chain yield aggregators, and multi-chain staking, among others.
- Metaverse. A true metaverse is one where multiple chains and communities coexist, with each chain implementing its own technology stack. Analog’s smart contracts can unlock this value, enabling diverse communities to seamlessly transfer their assets (NFTs) while DApp developers build cross-chain gaming applications.
Community
Our community continues to grow and can be found on most of the major social media platforms. Links to our Twitter, Reddit, Telegram, Discord and Analog communities can be found at the bottom of our Home Page.
There are many ways to support Analog.
Firstly, you can check out our job board to see if there are any opportunities that may be of interest to you.
You can also contribute your time by volunteering research or community engagement, becoming an Analog ambassador AKA Timelord, or just by spreading the word to your family and friends.
There are many ways to participate in building Analog. Details can be found on our Analog for Developers page.
You can stay up to date with all the latest official Analog news by joining our communities on Telegram, Discord or by subscribing to our email newsletter.
The newsletter sign up form can be found at the bottom of this page.
Support can be obtained in our Discord server. You can ask questions in the #need-help channel or click on #ticket-channel to open a support ticket.
All press inquiries can be directed to press@analog.one.
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