The Aleo public chain combines zero-knowledge proof and programmable features to delve into the problem of privacy protection. It cleverly uses zero-knowledge proof technology to ensure the anonymity and confidentiality of user privacy, perfectly hiding the participants, amount and other details of the transaction. At the same time, users are given the choice to freely decide whether to disclose or hide specific information. Going one step further, with the help of zero-knowledge cryptography, Aleo moves smart contract execution off-chain, greatly improving the Dapp’s processing power and capable of processing thousands of transactions per second. This innovative solution not only protects users' privacy but also improves transaction efficiency. It is undoubtedly another important milestone in the development of blockchain technology.
Compared with other public chains, the Aleo network has significant advantages in privacy protection and on-chain scalability. Currently, smart contracts have two major limitations on the blockchain: their completely open and transparent design makes it impossible to achieve privacy protection; at the same time, they cannot scale to millions or even billions of users and cannot support real-time online games or activities. Large scale application. In order to solve these problems, the Aleo network uses zero-knowledge proof encryption technology to successfully achieve scalability that both protects privacy and supports massive data processing. This breakthrough not only overcomes the current dilemma of Internet data leakage, but also makes up for the shortcomings of openness and transparency of blockchain data information.
Aleo combines the three elements of security, programmability and privacy to achieve a unique combination of technologies and promote the development of Web 3.0. Its privacy computing and data processing capabilities bring innovation to the field of blockchain technology.
Why is Aleo so popular among investors?
As far as the current phenomenon is concerned, I feel that the issue of user privacy needs to be resolved urgently. Whenever we search for a certain content, a large number of related push notifications will emerge, which undoubtedly exposes that our privacy has been exploited by Internet giants. Although this kind of information collection is not uncommon in the era of big data, when we find that the preferences mentioned in the chat will also be accurately pushed, it makes people feel cold. In this era, we seem to have no privacy at all, and our every move is visible. Therefore, solving the privacy problem is undoubtedly an important issue for the future development of the Internet.
The Aleo project has been favored by many well-known venture capital institutions, including SoftBank Vision Fund, Samsung, Coinbase Ventures, a16z, Polychain Capital, Galaxy Digital and Kora Management. These institutions have invested a lot of money in the project, showing their high confidence in the future development of the project. After three rounds of financing, the Aleo project successfully raised US$298 million, setting a record for financing in the field of zero-knowledge proof. This achievement not only proves the trust and support of investors in the Aleo project, but also indicates the great potential and prospects of the project in the future.
Aleo's core value: In terms of product design, the Aleo public chain is committed to achieving complete openness and transparency, but this does not mean that it ignores the protection of privacy. However, due to the characteristics of blockchain, in order to ensure the transparency and credibility of transactions, each node must verify the correctness of the transaction. This leads to scalability issues because each computer needs to invest time and resources for verification.
However, the Aleo public chain has found a solution in the field of zero-knowledge proof cryptography. It successfully solves the two major challenges currently faced by public chains: protecting privacy and supporting the processing of massive amounts of data. This allows the Aleo public chain to handle large amounts of data and users while protecting user privacy.
Privacy is of vital importance in blockchain design. It not only protects users’ personal data, but also opens up a wider space for blockchain applications. By returning user data from large companies and platforms to users, privacy ensures that user data privacy is strictly protected. In addition, it supports real-time online collaboration at the billion-level, which is the core value of the native function of the Aleo public chain.
This function not only makes up for the shortcomings of the current blockchain technology, but also is comparable to the existing Web2 platform. Therefore, the privacy function plays a vital role in blockchain technology and lays a solid foundation for future technological development.
Bitcoin and Ethereum, which we are familiar with, fall into quadrants three and four respectively. Both lack privacy, while the latter has better programmability.
The single-function privacy products represented by the second quadrant were a hot topic in the past. A typical example is ZCash, which is widely used in anonymous transfers compared to Bitcoin transfers. With its innovative zero-knowledge proof technology, it combines privacy with the single function of transfers.
However, this is the only limit. ZCash cannot combine privacy with more extensive programmability. Therefore, we can foresee that the next opportunity and hot spot in the market will be projects that combine privacy and programmability well.
Aleo belongs to the first quadrant. Aleo is the first public chain that uses zero-knowledge proof to solve privacy issues while ensuring programmability. Aleo protects user information privacy through zero-knowledge proof, including hiding transaction information (amount, time), while allowing users to choose the degree of privacy disclosure. In terms of scalability, Aleo transfers smart contract execution to the off-chain, thereby ensuring the feasibility of tens of thousands of transactions per second.
How Aleo works: Our novel consensus algorithm builds zero-knowledge proofs into the blockchain, enabling faster, cheaper, more secure applications for a better web.
Stakeholders: Stakers lock up Aleo credits to help validators participate in consensus and secure the network. They earn rewards for the points they stake.
Who are the stakeholders? Any individual or organization that wishes to participate in the incentive process can stake Aleo Points, locking them for a desired period of time to support the security of the Aleo network.
How does staking work? Stakers delegate Aleo Credits to validators. Staking Aleo Credits with validators helps increase their respective staking weights to participate in consensus. Stakers receive a percentage of inflation rewards that are provided to the validators they stake.
What is the minimum staking requirement? You can help secure the Aleo network with just 1 Aleo Point. However, you will not receive staking rewards until you have staked at least 10 Aleo Points.
When can I start staking? Staking will be enabled shortly after the mainnet launch.
How many Aleo Credits can I earn by staking? Staking rewards are determined by the number of Aleo Credits staked globally and the inflation rate of network rewards provided. Initial estimates are as high as 15% or 20%, but this number will naturally decrease over time as more Aleo Credits are staked and inflation rewards decrease. Unless the network adjusts, block rewards will remain unchanged in perpetuity.
Provers: Provers use specialized hardware to generate proofs and solve puzzles to earn Aleo credits.
Who are the provers? Aleo provers (often referred to as ZK miners or ZK provers) are a unique class of zero-knowledge specific infrastructure that supports the Aleo network by solving the PoSW (Succinct Proof of Work) Coinbase puzzle via SNARK proofs, which are then finalized by inclusion in the Aleo validators’ blocks.
How does proving work? Aleo provers must compete with each other to generate solutions to the Coinbase puzzle by generating SNARK proofs that meet a target difficulty threshold determined by the Aleo network. The more efficient the prover is at generating solutions to the Aleo Coinbase puzzle, the higher the chance of receiving the Aleo Coinbase reward. Multiple provers can receive part of the Coinbase reward in proportion to the number of valid puzzle solutions submitted. Provers offer 50% of the Coinbase solution reward to validators to incentivize their participation and reward receipt.
How can I get started with proof-of-stake? Use validator software like snarkOS. It is most efficient with dedicated hardware. Proof-of-stake rewards will be enabled at mainnet launch.
What hardware do I need to start proving? A dedicated GPU works best, but CPU proving is possible.
How can I maximize my attestation rewards? The more proofs you make, the higher your chances of getting a reward. Specialized hardware proves faster. The Coinbase Reward that Aleo Provers receive will be proportional to the amount distributed from the beginning by Aleo inflation. The Coinbase Reward decreases in a linear fashion until it stops being issued around the tenth year.
When will Proof of Stake go live? Proof of Stake rewards will be enabled at mainnet launch.
How much can a prover earn? Expect 40–50%+ APR to start, decreasing over time.
Validators: Validators run nodes, verify transactions, and participate in consensus to add new blocks. They earn fees and rewards.
Who are the validators? Aleo validators are infrastructure service providers that secure the network through AleoBFT, a proof-of-stake based consensus mechanism that leverages the latest state-of-the-art consensus research Bullshark and its directed acyclic graph (DAG) Narwhal-style mempool.
How does validation work? Validators verify and confirm blocks of transactions. Validators in the Aleo consensus mechanism agree on the state. Validators include proofs from attesters when they create blocks. Validators receive rewards and fees for their work in securing the network.
How can I start validating? You will need at least 1 million Aleo points to validate. Run a validator node using snarkOS software. Mainnet validation will begin after launch - stay tuned!
All stakeholders work together to create a mutually beneficial ecosystem.
1 Overview
Snarkos is a decentralized operating system for zero-knowledge applications. The code forms the backbone of the Aleo Network, which validates transactions and stores encrypted state applications in a publicly verifiable manner.
2. Setup Guide - Here are the minimum requirements to run an Aleo node:
Operating System: 64-bit architecture only, latest security
Client: Ubuntu 22.04(LTS), macOs Ventura or later, Windows 11 or later
Required by: Ubuntu 22.04(LTS), macOs Ventura or later
Validator: Ubuntu 22.04 (LTS)
CPU: 64-bit architecture only
Client: 16 cores
Provers: 32 cores (preferably 64 cores)
Validator: 32 cores (64 cores preferred)
Memory: DDR4 or better
Client: 16GB RAM
Certifier: 32GB RAM (64GB or more preferred)
Authenticator: 64GB RAM (128GB or more preferred)
Storage: PCle Gen 3 x4, PCle Gen 4 x2 NVME SSD or better
Client: 64GB disk space
Prover: 128GB disk space
Validator: 2TB disk space (4TB or larger preferred)
Network: Symmetric, Commercial, Always-On
Client: 100Mbps upload and download bandwidth
Proven: 250Mbps upload and download bandwidth
Validator: 500Mbps upload and download bandwidth
Graphics Processor:
Customer: Not needed at the moment
Prover: CUDA-capable GPU (optional)
Validator: Not required at this time
Please note that in order to run a competitive Aleo Prover, the machine needs more than just these requirements.
Mainnet Update Road--Mainnet Testing Plan
Two weeks ago, we announced our commitment to transparent updates around standards and progress on the Aleo mainnet. Our strong belief in everyone’s right to online privacy has led us to this moment: creating and launching a network that is truly zero-knowledge by design.
Programmable. Private. Permissionless. We are committed to launching a mainnet that meets Aleo’s core principles — programmable, private, and permissionless.
aleoBFT consensus: AleoBFT is our novel consensus mechanism that combines the finality of proof-of-stake with the strong incentives of proof-of-work. This hybrid architecture helps us achieve instant finality of block confirmations while leveraging the "coinbase puzzle" to reward provers and incentivize the development of better zero-knowledge cryptographic hardware. AleoBFT consensus: Designed to minimize downtime and have high tolerance to Byzantine failures.
Our goal is to build a secure and resilient consensus system that minimizes downtime, has strong Byzantine fault tolerance, and ensures that validators can quickly synchronize to the latest network state, thereby maintaining the integrity and performance of the overall system.
Client Sync This involves optimizing two key methods: CDN snapshots for fast updates and peer-to-peer gossip for efficient and direct data sharing between nodes. Client Sync: Ensure edge clients are reliably in sync with the network.
Coinbase Puzzle: The coinbase puzzle is a proof-of-work type puzzle designed to incentivize the development of faster software and hardware for generating zero-knowledge proofs. Provers can submit valid solutions to the coinbase puzzle to receive a reward.
Coinbase Puzzle: Allows validators to accept multiple solutions to each block without affecting network transactions. These are minimum standards for launch. The teams will use more robust testing protocols to test at higher thresholds and benchmarks.
Private and public transactions: The network supports at least 1 TPS capacity for both public and private transactions. For public transactions, users are able to transparently update state using Finalize statements.
Program deployment: limits on program size and comprehensive opcode support.
Staking (ARC 0038): Users can stake Aleo Points to validators. Our community partner Demox Labs will lead the work of implementing ARC-0038 at the program level and audit the implementation to ensure the approach is safe. Demox will also implement the Liquid Staking Protocol to provide greater flexibility for staking.
Validator/Staff Separation (ARC 0037): Aleo Systems Inc. (the for-profit company formed by the Aleo founders and protocol engineers from which the Aleo Network Foundation spun out) has taken the lead on ARC-0037 and has published an implementation and design specification that is being reviewed and tested by another of our community partners, Puzzle. ARC-0037 aims to reduce the security burden on validators by providing separate withdrawal addresses.
Conducting robust network testing: Multiple teams from the ecosystem, namely Demox Labs, Monadicus, Supranational, Puzzle, and Kryha, worked with us to extend the testing protocol to ensure the network is ready for launch. To achieve this goal, we launched a series of testing tools. These tools include genesis block generator, ahead-of-time (AOT) transaction and block history generation, and node topology management system. In addition, we also launched the canary network in collaboration with these ecosystem members. These testing tools help us check the operation of the network consensus mechanism, the smoothness of client synchronization, and the speed of transaction processing.
Introduction to Aleo Credits: Aleo Credits allows users and developers to secure verification and data services on a decentralized network and compensate service providers for their work, benefiting the entire Aleo open source ecosystem.
How Aleo Credits works:
Granting access: Aleo Credits are used to access block space and computing resources on the network. Users pay Credits to submit transactions and have them processed.
Creating Incentives: Provers and Validators are rewarded with Aleo Credits for securing it, incentivizing a strong decentralized network.
Enable Staking: Aleo Credits can be staked with validators to generate blocks and provide network security, and stakers can receive proportional network rewards in return.
Promote governance: After the mainnet is launched, Aleo Credit holders can participate in decentralized governance and vote on upgrades and changes to the protocol.
How Aleo Credit is distributed:
Rewards: After the mainnet launch, the Aleo network will issue Aleo Credits as rewards to provers who solve puzzles and to validators who protect the network and participate in consensus. Coinbase rewards for provers/validators decrease linearly over approximately 10 years.
Block Rewards: Validators also receive a constant block reward in perpetuity (currently set to 23 points per block) as an incentive to continue validating.
Circulating Supply: As rewards are distributed, the total number of Aleo Credits in circulation grows to 2.6 billion in 10 years and doubles in approximately 21 years.
Inflation: The inflation rate decreases over time from around 12% in year 1 to 2% in year 10 and approaches 0% over time.
The initial supply at launch will be 1.5 billion Aleo Credits. These are allocated to early supporters (35%), public allocation (25%), employees and contributors (16%), the company (10%), strategic partners (8%), and the foundation (6%).
In 10 years, more than 50% of Aleo Credits will be distributed to the public.
Some additional details: Investors and teams will face an initial 12-month lockup period after the mainnet launch, during which they can still participate by holding shares. After the lockup period, they will enter a two-year linear vesting period, with 1/24 of their shares released each month (note that in addition to these shares, investors and teams may also hold other token shares, which will be released monthly after the one-year lockup period, and all will be unlocked over 24 months). Grantees, testnet participants, etc. will not have a lockup period in non-US regions. If you are in the US, you will need to lock up for one year, starting from the date of contribution (note that testnet and ecosystem grant tokens will also be locked up for one year in the US). Inflation in symbolic economics is estimated and may change. In general, based on the lockup schedule, the mainnet launch will never be too late to avoid missing out on the 25-year bull market that the core builders of the Aleo team have created.
Current status and progress of the new coinbase algorithm: Driven by the rapid development of technology, the Aleo team is close to completing the development of the new algorithm (just last week, Howard mentioned the need to comprehensively reconstruct the new algorithm, but now it has achieved has made significant progress and the algorithm is almost ready) and is currently in the final validation and integration stages. Next, the new algorithm will enter the testing phase and is scheduled to be audited within the next two months (specifically, the new algorithm will begin testing before April 1st and will be conducted for two periods starting from April 1st. monthly audit). According to the previous plan, the new algorithm will be announced one month before the mainnet is released (as Howard said previously, the announcement of the new algorithm will mark the upcoming official launch of the mainnet).
The goal of the new Coinbase algorithm is to enable ASIC adoption so it may initially use more GPUs (the early validation market for Aleo will be GPU-heavy). The new algorithm may require more memory and therefore may require a more complex setup.
Roadmap Overview: Current Progress: Devnet testing is 50% complete, Jigsaw integration is still in progress.
Major milestones in the future include: - Complete Devnet testing before April 1st - Integrate puzzles before April 1st - Audit of ARC-37/38 is scheduled for April 1st - [Code freeze in May] (code freeze, after the mainnet is stable, similar to Filecoin, directly go online on the mainnet).
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Disclaimer: The above content does not constitute investment advice, please make your own judgment. Investment is risky, so please invest with caution.
