What is æternity?
æternity – the foundation of a decentralized world
æternity blockchain is an unassumingly innovative smart contract platform engineered by blockchain-programming pioneers to create powerful, infinitely scalable decentralized applications in a highly secure environment to meet everyone’s needs.
Æternity 101
æternity is a blockchain ecosystem built combining a cutting-edge suite of technologies in order to create a distributed system of decentralized cryptocurrency payments embedded within powerful programmable decentralized applications.
These decentralized applications range from financial services, governance tools, enterprise grade systems, to social media platforms, games and many other.
The decentralized nature of æternity provides easy access to create, use and transact on these applications worldwide, without any central power controling the network. The distributed nature of æternity makes it immune to data manipulation providing the highest grade of transparency.
Designed to solve the shortcomings of the first smart contract platforms, æternity expedites transaction time and fees and improves safety features compared to peer blockchains.
The æternity technology has redesigned blockchain at the protocol level, written in Erlang to address the fundamental challenges native to earlier blockchains with the intelligence to understand and integrate a rich set of robust functionalities.
Sophia Smart Contracts
With Sophia, the custom-made blockchain language, æternity offers developers a safe coding experience fully customized for smart contracts. This is a unique advantage of the æternity blockchain, since Sophia is tailored for smart contract applications, thus some features of conventional languages are not present in Sophia, while some blockchain-specific primitives, constructions and types have been added, which allows you to develop powerful decentralized æpps suited to your users’ specific needs.
FATE VM
Ensure accurate, flawless execution of smart contracts powering your æpps using the Fast æternity Transaction Engine Virtual Machine which prevents type violations in its code, delivering a precision-friendly and safe coding experience.
Custom Names for Æpp Users
The Æternity Naming System (ÆNS) enables users to register any blockchain entity, including account keys, wallet addresses, smart contracts, oracles, state channels and hashes, as easily-readable names, creating an efficient and secure naming system for the decentralized web. The dot chain namespace gets expressed by the “.chain” suffix.
Scalability and Privacy via State Channels
Developers are empowered by the State Channels of the æternity blockchain to build infinitely scalable, enterprise grade applications by conducting super fast off-chain transactions, with essentially no fees, while maintaining all security benefits of the blockchain ecosystem. State Channels, unlike simple payment channels, do also include a smart contract which can be enforced by the blockchain network in case there is a disagreement among the involved counterparties. Smart contracts, as well as transactions inside State Channels stay private and visible only to the interacting parties.
Oracles
Oracles open up your æpps to the world, allowing smart contracts to work with off-chain data in a well defined way. Extend the scope of your æpp’s offering by integrating real world data into your smart contracts using æternity’s oracle system, enabling hassle-free registration and communication through oracles.
æternity æcosystem
Unique Community Governance
Decentralized is not just a word often used in the blockchain space. For æternity, it’s a postulate upon which everything is based on. All network-binding decisions regarding the æternity blockchain are made collectively, among the members of the community, through decentralized governance. Make your vote count through the Governance app or the voting tool on Superhero.com or delegate your vote to a community expert that you trust. Your vote matters.
Safety
The æternity blockchain is secured by the cutting-edge cryptographic protocol which offers a smooth and safe user experience. The functional smart language Sophia is designed to provide safety and convenience in programming smart contracts.
Decentralized Applications (Æpps)
Create powerful æpps, from social media platforms, financial services (DeFi), marketplaces, games, supply chain and database management systems, IoT platforms, governance tools to all kinds of utility services serving every need of a truly disintermediated, secure, cost-friendly, decentralized autonomous ecosystem.
Open-Source
The æternity protocol and all essential developer resources are fully open source. There are no proprietary licenses whatsoever. The development process is transparent, and anyone can start contributing via GitHub and the Forum.
Try Æ
Discover the three elements that make æternity and its æcosystem an amazing foundation to build your ideas on:
- Æ COIN : Æ coin is the native token of the æternity blockchain. Similar to most cryptocurrencies, you can use Æ to transfer value across borders within seconds with a minimal fee. It is also used for transacting within the many applications running on the æternity blockchain and can be easily converted to FIAT currency through an exchange.
- WALLETS : This is your personal bank account, except you are your own bank. Use a wallet to store, send, receive and manage your Æ in a secure manner. A list of recommended wallets suiting your specific needs can be found here.
- ÆPPS : The numerous decentralized applications built on the æternity blockchain are called æpps. These applications cover a wide range of utilities across several industries including finance, gaming, security, and many more.
Build on æternity
Access all our learning material and documentation to unlock the tools and gain the understanding required for building powerful æpps, whether you are a beginner or an experienced programmer looking to enter the blockchain ecosystem.
The æcommunity
Join our multicultural, global community of members that include people from all walks of life. The æcommunity maintains several high volume communication channels such as the æternity Forum, the æ Telegram group, the æ Github, and most recently, a StackExchange site. Join and grow with us!
