By: Geeq  on Oct 31, 2022

Geeq’s patent was issued earlier this month, to the Geeq community’s joy and relief. Although we have known we were on the leading edge of blockchain all this time, it was gratifying to receive official recognition of our inventions and the patent protection that goes with them.

Now we’d like to share more frequent and detailed technical updates.

Introduction

If you are new to Geeq, welcome. You may enjoy our non-technical explainers, and please head over to our Telegram community if you have questions. If you are well-acquainted with Geeq, you might like to jump to Recent Achievements.

Background

Geeq differs from every other multi-chain ecosystem because every chain is validated by the same protocol, which includes user protections that far exceed those of any other blockchain technology. It is this uniform, reliably neutral validation system that enables maximally secure interoperability, because one part of the ecosystem understands exactly what the other must do and a user is able to check on any specific account at any time without requiring trust in blanket or unproved assertions.

Geeq will complete its roadmap when it has hardened a generic infrastructure for which all public chains are capable of the features described in our roadmap.

Process

Our development team works up and down our roadmap. Because Geeq is built from the ground up, Geeq’s technical specifications begin by defining data elements and groups. Messages are required to be sent and acknowledged with cryptographic signatures in a deterministic way, and each node builds its own block and updates its own ledger, which are either provably correct or not.

The underlying logic is consistent for all transactions. A consistent approach is not only critical for security, it allows Geeq to build streamlined, efficient, and sustainable blockchain technology. As the development team progresses, the well-specified logic of validation and communications protocols provides clear guides to test and improve efficiency and performance with each iteration.

Recap

The Geeq team recently communicated its decision to add Geeq-native NFT and fungible token asset subgroups to the coin asset accounts. Ongoing work includes upgrading the protocol to include validation and processing of transactions associated with these groups.

Recent Achievements

Nonce checks, listening nodes, and Active Net Hash are now code complete.

Spotlight on Listening Nodes – Network and Systems Operations

Definition:

Listening nodes do not collect transactions from users and do not participate in the active network that collectively chooses the set of candidate transactions for the next block.

However, a listening node does monitor the network, receive the set of candidate transactions that the active network establishes, validates them independently, commits its view of the correct block and uses it to update its view of the ledger.

A listening node is a network actor that may request information all the way back to the genesis block. However, as long as they begin with a ledger state they believe, they can begin to build their blockchain from that block onward.

Like active nodes, listening nodes audit network actors that behave dishonestly in their view. The entire audit process is an integral part of the Geeq protocol, unlike other protocols which allow the majority of processing power or stake to decide which view is correct. In contrast, there is a unique and provably correct view at Geeq.

The implication is profound: even if a majority of nodes on a Geeq blockchain present an incorrect view, honest nodes can prove to users that their view is correct.

Use Cases for Enterprises

An enterprise may wish to restrict the set of validating nodes for its own reasons. For example, it may need to process an enormous number of transactions and impose requirements for uptime and capacity on the active nodes. Perhaps it wishes to use a purely internal, private network of active nodes of its own or restrict participants to a set of trusted primary actors to build and update their chains.

There are also cases where an enterprise may wish to include a listening node in its network. For example, it may retain a data analytics firm that runs active nodes for them, while running its own listening node to have direct access to the block information for assurance purposes. The opposite arrangement is true: the enterprise may run the active nodes while the data analytics firm listens.

When both parties are able to agree on the same raw data in the blockchain, a new virtuous cycle of trust between parties is able to develop. In order for that to happen, the blockchains must be neutral, reliable, and provable, as they are at Geeq.

Another scenario where a listening node becomes highly efficient is when the enterprise wishes to have an official entity listening to its blockchain, such as a certification authority, regulatory body, or an accounting firm.

Listening nodes provide a means for asynchronous information exchange that reduces the costs to coordinate verification of evidence that is of interest to many parties. By providing parties the capability to prove for themselves whether the other party is honest, at any time they like, technology powered by Geeq gives entities a modern way to broaden their trusted networks, even as traditional intermediaries struggle to keep pace.

An increasingly relevant use case for listening nodes occurs when individual participants or small entities are involved in distributed business processes. Contractors, for example, may want assurances from large enterprises or organizations that their work will be recognized, even if their negotiating power is relatively low. By using applications like GeeqData with a listening node, contractors will be able to prove they have submitted evidence of work and thus should be paid.

In general, an independent listening node allows other users to verify the data they are being presented is correct and to prove certain events have been recorded on a historically accurate blockchain.

Sample Use Case for Public Blockchains

Any node in a network (private or public) that wants to become active must catch up to the current chain state.

The first step is to join the Network Actor List as a listening node. A listening node has to acquire a ledger state at some block height it believes. The node might choose to go all the way back to the genesis block or find a benchmark at some later point.

From there, it is possible to verify subsequent blocks and calculate the current ledger state. Once nodes catch up, they only need to hear the lists and statements produced by the active network. The active network is the set of nodes that collectively establish the candidate transactions for the next block.

It will be possible to issue NFTs on Geeq chains without using smart contracts, at very low cost, and at scale. We anticipate use cases such as the following:

A gaming company issues NFTs. Distribution of initial ownership and transfers of ownership on-chain are ordinary, trust-minimized transactions throughout the Geeq ecosystem. A gaming company with a listening node could keep track of the accounts that own NFTs, so it will be possible to blend a centralized system with decentralized ownership.

About Geeq’s Network Communication Protocols

For both the enterprise and the public blockchain cases, the protocols of syncing and catching up as a listening node are the same although the computation and communications burden for a listening node is less.

Listening nodes also do not have to leave an open port for communication to the outside because they can restrict their communications to known nodes in the network. Listening nodes only have to listen to a set of trusted IP addresses in the active network.

In contrast, active nodes on a public network must accept unverified transactions from any IP address.

A Note for the Extremely Curious Technical Reader

The Active Net Hash is now code complete. The Active Net Hash is used as a deterministic and non-manipulable source of randomization to generate network churn.

Quality assurance, testing, debugging, and code updates are continuous processes. We are proud to say the Geeq development team has expanded significantly over the year and this cycle is well-established.

Stay tuned, thanks for your support, and tell your friends to Be A Geeq!

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