Simplifying The Hive Layer 2 - The SPK Network

I have talked about the Layer 2 solutions in one of my previous posts.

But today we are gonna focus on another branch and addition to Hive ecosystem i.e SPK Network

I understand how irritating it can become. For anyone who wants to actively take part in a project but is limited because of lack of understanding. Some words in every sentence, go over your head, like.. what 🤔 it is network protocol and a sidechain? Duh! Whatever that means.

But since I have been involved with the blockchain from past 2-3 years. I happen to get things a bit better while still being a noob in understanding code or development.

Usually I believe in unloading as much information in less words in this kind of articles.

But this is going to be a bit longer anyway. As there's lot to cover. So I thew in some self acknowledging rant. 😅

Without further ado, let's start.

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You must be aware about the 3speak, to remember things fast here's a logo that will light up some bulbs.

It is a video content sharing front end built on SPK Network as well as a community at Hive. So yes 3speak and SPK Network are different. 3Speak defines the user interface whereas the SPK Network is the Layer 2 side chain built on Hive network just like the Hive Engine.

Before we delve deeper, you must understand - what is a Layer-2.

So Layer-2 side-chains were primarily required to mitigate the deficiencies of Main blockchain.

For example the Polygon network i.e MATIC was introduced to mitigate the high transaction fees and scalability of Ethereum.

What a Layer-2 does is, it takes the transaction off the main chain i.e Layer-1 and processes them on a side chain instead while still posting the transactions and data on the main chain.

As a result, reducing the load on main blockchain but still keeping the transparency and end level decentralization intact.

But increasing the transaction throughput and lowering the costs was meant for Ethereum.

A Layer-2 sidechain can be developed for various other purposes.

One Layer-2 solution can be altogether different from another based on the kind of rules and structure they use to interact with the main chain. Which is defined by what they want to accomplish with a separate network.

The Hive Layer-2 solutions

Hive is much more faster and scalable compared to Ethereum

But any kind of coded development on a blockchain is only feasible by scripting and running Smart Contracts.

For now, Hive lacks the ability to execute smart contracts written by just any external user. As this functionality needs to be coded in the blockchain Layer-1 first. Which is still under active development for Hive.

Thus, in the case of Hive, the Layer-2 solution was required to make the Dapp development possible.

And hence, Hive Engine came into existence, and made possible the creation of custom tokens, front ends and Dapps; by making it feasible to deploy and run Smart Contracts off the main and on a sidechain.

Likewise SPK Network is a sidechain on Hive

But Then Why The SPK Network?

As I have already mentioned before, Layer-2 sidechains can be of different types built to cater different requirements. And can rely on different network protocols.

A network protocol is a set of rules that defines how computers are going to interact with other computers. That simple.

SPK Network Protocol is primarily developed to decentralize and reward -

1.) Video Content Platforms And Content Creators

The Text and Image sharing at Hive is already decentralized except videos. The SPK Network allows you or anyone to

• develop decentralized video sharing platforms along with image and NFT sharing platforms integrated with Hive blockchain.
• create breakaway communities at hive with your own custom content platforms and content websites.
• integrate pre built tools to your content platforms built on SPK Network like - token creation system, storage system, NFT exchange system etc for your users.
• share your content in a censorship free arena while retaining its true ownership.
• earn maximum rewards for your content; without - it being first capitalized by centralized entities like YouTube and earning at their terms.
• store your content at a self or peer hosted infrastructure.

2.) Infrastructure Providers

Since video content consumes humongous amounts of resources. It becomes costly to store it. But the SPK Network also enables you to

• run various infrastructure nodes like - encoder node, cdn note, validator node, storage node, pinning nodes - in a non technical way and through a web interface in the future.
• take part in maintaining backend infrastructure and get rewarded in SPK Network's native governance and gas tokens for sharing your resources like cpu or storage with others, along with others.
• save your content at your self hosted infrastructure and own it in real time.

And hence as you can see, SPK Network is not just another usual community or project at Hive. It is a leap towards further decentralization by forever changing the way how data is stored.

SPK Network - The Ownership

Source

Layer-2 sidechains can either be centralized or decentralized.

Just like Hive is decentralized i.e servers are not owned by an entity or a private individual and instead by the public.

In a similar way, the SPK Network is owned by public, and anyone can take part in its ownership and governance by staking SPEAK tokens.

Powering up SPEAK in your account, makes you eligible to vote and have a say in the direction of platform's development.

More 'SPEAK Power' means more vote weight and hence more influence in the decision making.

Service Infrastructure Pools - SIP

Since the network is owned by public. Centralized finances can breed lack of trust and is counterintuitive to the project's visions.

SIP pools are an efficient way to manage financial operations of a decentralized project.

All the revenue generated by selling the miner tokens and ads will be automatically locked into this treasury kind of pool.

And it will be used to provide the liquidity forever. The plan is to grow it large enough that it can fund the project's further development solely with the income it'll generate by providing liquidity.

Also the 'Breakway Communities' that'll created at SPK Network will be able to utilize this system to mange their token's financial operations.

Tokenomics

There are mainly 3 tokens associated with the SPK Network and the whole SPK economy revolves around them.

SPEAK Token

SPEAK is the governance token of the network. Powering up SPEAK grants you voting rights. And the amount powered up defines your vote weight.

It has a limited supply and inflation similar to Bitcoin. Meaning mining SPEAK will become harder and harder and will grant lesser SPEAK rewards over time. Until the max supply is reached.

There is a nominal fee on every SPEAK transaction and it will also feature an un-staking tax when you will leave out from a liquidity pool.

A part of both of these SPEAK inflows, will be distributed among SPEAK holders and liquidity providers respectively.

You can earn the SPEAK tokens by providing infrastructure services and by burning LARYNX MINER token.

LARYNX MINER Token

These are the tokens you can burn (permanently lock away) to earn SPEAK tokens.

But the efficiency of these miners will decline every year, to maintain the ongoing demand of SPEAK and encourage staking.

There are two ways to get your hands on LARYNX MINER tokens -

1.) Sending HIVE to the Service Infrastructure Pool (SIP)

A certain amount of LARYNX tokens will become available with this SPK treasurery everyday. And you can send HIVE to this pool to claim over a portion of them.

They will be then proportionately distributed among all the accounts that sent HIVE till the end of that day.

2.) Buying LARYNX from the market

Pretty much self explanatory.

BROCA Token

BROCA is to SPK what 'Resource Credits' are to Hive.

It is a gas token required to upload content to the SPK Network. Created to mitigate spam over the network.

It keeps regenerating continuously, if the user has powered up SPEAK tokens.

Users will use it as a means to pay the other users providing infrastructure like content storage.

The BROCA fees is determined by the network wide real time cost of per GB of storage.

It can be held liquid, traded or sent to other accounts without any fees.

Token Summary

Provided below is an image taken from the Lite Paper summarising all the tokens associate the SPK Network

Source

The Partnership With Peerplays

So Peerplays is another blockchain built using the same protocol as Hive. This makes it easy to integrate and transfer everything developed at Peerplays to Hive.

There is already a Dapp ecosystem developed at Peerplays like Dex, Sidechain operating nodes, support for NFT's and NFT marketplace and bidding platform, token creation system etc.

Which is planned to be adapted and made available at SPK Network. Expanding the scope and operations of the network right away.

Peerplays will also invest their native token PPY into the Service Infrastructure Pool of the SPK Network

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So that was it.

Of course, I have just scratched the surface. Like I said before, don't misunderstand it to be just another Hive community. It is a whole new network and protocol. And there are many-many complex facets of any blockchain tech to fully understand its working. You can go through the official lite paper and website provided in the links below for further information.

PS - SPK claim drop is about to start, if you don't know. Be ready to claim your share. 😊

Feel free to ask any questions and please upvote, comment and rehive if you liked this and found this helpful.

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Relevant Links

SPK Network Lite Paper

SPK Network Discord

SPK Network Official Website

SPK Network Official Account For News & Updates - @spknetwork

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Further Reads

Simplifying And Understanding The Hive Layer 2 - The Engine Of Hive

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