OmiseGo and Quantstamp are Partnering to Scale the Ethereum Network Through Plasma

Congestion is an issue faced by nearly every notable blockchain in existence. Despite the benefits of decentralization, the more people utilizing a blockchain, the more the network congests and slows down. Coming to the rescue is Quantstamp, a “blockchain security company backed by Y-Combinator.” The group is partnering with open-payment platform and decentralized exchange OmiseGo to develop a “Plasma” technology, with the goal of scaling the Ethereum network, according to a press release.

OmiseGo and Quantstamp: Solving Ethereum Scalability

Right now, the Ethereum blockchain slows down frequently due to all of its different decentralized applications. Each dapp increases the number of transactions made on the blockchain, with more dapps adding to that overall total.

However, the network often has trouble managing all of the transactions, as it is only a “layer 1” technology. Put simply; it’s too old to function as well as it needs to. Because of this, the current Ethereum can only handle a small amount of data within each block.

Plasma looks to solve this by adding blockchains “on top of Ethereum.” This “layer 2” technology would make it so less data is stored on the main blockchain. While the main chain is still used for security purposes, the secondary chains would provide quicker, cheaper transactions.

Quantstamp Audits OmiseGo’s “Minimum Viable Plasma” (MVP)

OmiseGo was already working on a Minimum Viable Plasma (MVP) product when the team called in Quantstamp to audit the platform. Quantstamp aimed to assess security issues, quality of code, and ensure best practices were in place. However, auditors found a security issue. OmiseGo quickly corrected it, and now the two will continue working together to develop Plasma and ensure it can be the best possible product.

CTO of Quantstamp Steven Stewart commented on the collaboration:

“Plasma offers a solution to scaling challenges that are preventing Ethereum from reaching its design goals. We believe this will help the entire ecosystem move forward and we are proud of enhancing the security of this scalability prototype.”

OmiseGo intends to be “the world’s biggest peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange platform,” and Plasma may help their cause. As time goes on, we can expect to see more of these “layer 2” solutions looking to improve upon all the different blockchains — the most notable being Bitcoin and Litecoin’s Lightning Network.