The interview with the CEO of MultiversX (formerly Elrond)

On the occasion of the Parisian event Proof of Talk where The Cryptonomist was a media partner, we interviewed Beniamin Mincu, CEO and co-founder at MultiversX (formerly Elrond).

Beniamin Mincu is a leading web3 entrepreneur and the founding CEO of MultiversX. As an influential name in the blockchain space, Beniamin is responsible for MultiversX’s effort to build scalable L1 solutions, focusing on areas of cross-chain security and interoperability, asset tokenization and sovereign chains.

Under his leadership, MultiversX’s focus on serving enterprises and the developer community has helped establish it as a Top-100 L1 project processing at a peak of 263,000 transactions/second, with a growing ecosystem of over 8,200 dApps and 3,200 nodes.

Prior to his time at MultiversX, Beniamin founded and led Metachain Capital, a digital asset investment fund focused on supporting innovation in the blockchain space through capital, key connections, strategic advice and more with investments from Polkadot, Binance and Tezos, among others.

What is your long-term vision for MultiversX, and how do you see it developing in the next 5 to 10 years?

At MultiversX, we are creating the infrastructure needed to support Internet-scale on-chain activity across multiple verticals and industries and move the blockchain space away from a highly hacked and fragmented experience characterized by limited throughput and inadequate security measures. What enables us to do this is the underlying sharding technology that ensures an efficient architecture for everything digital, which translates into a network that is fast and secure, while also being carbon negative.

Can you share some real applications and partnerships that have successfully used the MultiversX blockchain?

One of our first core applications, and one that has already gained traction within the Web3 space and beyond, used by millions of people worldwide, is xPortal, a digital wallet for finances, on-chain experiences, and so much more. xPortal abstracts any complex blockchain interactions and provides a seamless and intuitive interface equivalent to that of any Web2 application.

Of course, our ecosystem, currently sitting on over 8,000 apps, is much broader than just crypto-payments and includes Web3 games, digital asset marketplaces, DeFi, bridges, launchpads, tokenization or real assets, developer tools, and so much more.

Another example of a project using the MultiversX blockchain is PlayFi, a GameFi project targeting more than 3 billion players worldwide that allows developers to build web3 game features on top of traditional games. It essentially creates a cross between GameFi and traditional gaming similar to a permissionless Fortnite tournament.

Our ecosystem’s simplicity and ease of development is reflected in how MultiversX is now the leading blockchain network for game development, with 263 notable GitHub events compared to runner-up Decentraland’s 150 GitHub events.

How does MultiversX differentiate itself from other blockchain platforms like Ethereum, Solana or Polkadot?

Because MultiversX is based on sharding technology, MultiversX is the only truly scalable blockchain capable of growing with demand far beyond the capabilities of other networks. Additionally, developers are highly incentivized on the network as they receive 30% of gas fees when their smart contract is invoked.

Among the other features that set MultiversX apart is how it supports ease of development for newcomers to blockchain technology. For example, our partnership with Tencent Cloud, AWS and Google Cloud has led to the creation of a blockchain infrastructure solution that enables application development without starting from scratch. This reduces the inconvenience of deploying and managing MultiversX blockchain infrastructure nodes, saving hours of research and practice.

MultiversX is known for its high throughput. Can you explain the technology behind this and how it ensures scalability without compromising security?

We use sharding technology to multiply the capabilities of the network, enabling high-performance use cases on top of our L1 infrastructure and potentially hundreds of L2s exploring and searching Sovereign Chains to ensure scalability and interoperability. This involves dividing the network into smaller, more manageable chunks, maintaining security, speed, negligible costs and energy efficiency in times of exponential activity.

Sharding technology powered solutions like Sovereign Chains go beyond just one vertical and expand into DeFi, gaming, healthcare and enterprise sectors. In gaming, for example, high throughput and low latency, combined with adjustable transaction fees, enable radically different business models and games.

We further ensure the security of our scalable solution through on-chain 2FA, which requires two separate forms of authentication that secure digital assets. Even in the worst case scenario of the passphrase being compromised, exploiters would not be able to move funds without the Guardian function’s co-signature.

What steps are you taking to attract developers and projects to build on the MultiversX platform?

Sovereign Chains provide a robust and scalable foundation for building next generation dApps and interoperability of L2s with major blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana. It particularly appeals to developers who want to leverage the strengths of multiple ecosystems to create more versatile and powerful products for last-mile user consumption. To further encourage the development of Sovereign Chains and support developers, we have a US$1 million builder grant program in place.

We also ensure that extra measures are taken to facilitate a seamless build journey for prospective projects and developers on the MultiversX network. With a full developer resource library available, developers can find all the necessary documentation, GitHub and StackOverflow resources.

How is MultiversX navigating the complex regulatory landscape, and what is your view on the future of blockchain regulation?

We have always been in contact with regulators and legislators and believe that the best way forward is facilitated by collaboration with various stakeholders, including government officials. One way we try to start public-private initiatives is by showing how blockchain technology can be used at the institutional level for greater efficiency and transparency or just to enable different types of engagement with their users or constituents. For example, we saw the launch of the first institutional NFT market in Romania on MultiversX, with several public sector participants contributing collections.

Furthermore, while regulation is inevitable, we strongly believe that it must be coordinated with key players in the field to deliver the best results for the public while continuing to encourage innovation. With blockchain, collaboration with multiple stakeholders is key. We see many mainstream entities beginning to realize the cost-saving potential of blockchain-based systems, and creating an environment that fosters collaboration between public officials, private organizations, technology startups, and other blockchain-related entities will drive innovation, encourage investment. and provide early economies of scale.

What measures are in place to ensure the environmental sustainability of the MultiversX network?

We offset more CO2 than is attributable to our energy footprint since 2021. Our annual carbon footprint generated by product development and operations is approximately 5,253 tons compared to the financial system’s annual 1,100 megatons of carbon emissions and Bitcoin’s annual 62 megatons of carbon emissions.

To put this in perspective, our annual carbon footprint is equivalent to approximately 16,422 Bitcoin transactions or 16,422,500 miles of driving. This modest footprint enables exponential efficiency seen in the network’s high throughput, demonstrating a mindset to make blockchain technology a sustainable force forever.

How do you improve the user experience for both developers and end users on the MultiversX platform?

Our Sovereign Chains deliver increased performance by dedicating block space and computing resources to one concept, improving transaction throughput, reducing latency and lowering fees. It catalyzes the performance of applications in games, DeFi and other real-world use cases.

In addition, developers will find unprecedented levels of flexibility and sovereignty through the option to customize various aspects of their blockchain, including the security model, fee-token model, governance mechanism and VM. This level of customization is instrumental in attracting and retaining users and developers through its unique incentive schemes, tokenomics and user experiences.

Can you elaborate on the security mechanisms in place to protect the network from potential threats and vulnerabilities?

Most common attack vectors found in blockchains are tackled by a large number of participating validator nodes. More nodes equals more security, as the effort/cost to gain control of enough nodes to do harm (coining, double-spending, rejecting valid transactions, etc.) increases. In fact, MultiversX is the second largest Proof of Stake network by validator node count after Ethereum, with currently 3,300+ block producers in the consensus layer.

To make attacks even more difficult to attempt, nodes are randomly shuffled around shards each epoch, so even if an attacker somehow (economically infeasible in practice) manages to gain control of a large enough number of nodes , they don’t have time to maliciously coordinate. . Additionally, MultiversX uses randomness to assign a block proposer and consensus group, and resets each block. The chances of nodes being in the same consensus group are lower than winning the lottery several times in a row.

The security of the MultiversX blockchain and associated core components is a top priority for MultiversX. Our Proof of Stake network is secured by significant amounts of EGLD and provides valuable services for business or private use. Our mission is to become a layer of trust for Internet-scale digital financial systems, and the highest level of security is a mandatory prerequisite. Therefore, we recognize that fostering a close relationship with the wider community helps to improve the security of the MultiversX blockchain, and for this we have been running a specific bounty program for several years now through which we share vulnerability reports from researchers, auditor receive and welcome companies and individual experts.

10. What new features or innovations can the community expect from MultiversX in the near future?

As part of the roadmap, we are bringing important upgrades that will make the network faster, with the ultimate goal of reaching sub-second finality according to the latest research improvement proposal, improving privacy through Zero-Knowledge confidential transactions, bringing on-chain . support for mobile biometrics and passkeys to enable the creation of seamless and secure experiences for users. This represents just a fraction of what we are currently working on. Of course, Sovereign Chains remain a high priority for us, and we are in advanced discussions with companies interested in developing scalable, cost-effective on-chain solutions using the underlying MultiversX technology.