Pocket Network is a crypto project that aims to create a kind of “decentralized Infura''. Infura is a consensus product that allows any blockchain developer of a decentralized application to connect directly to Ethereum or other blockchain nodes using a very simple API without having to launch their own node.
At Infura, you pay a certain amount for each API request. Thus, this is a great business for Infura, because they lease the nodes, and it is profitable for the developers, because they do not have to deal with the support of the nodes. Usually companies are obliged to pay for it. In addition, the support of nodes is associated with certain risks – the data centers, electricity, and the Internet can be turned off at any moment. Nowadays the blockchain is so advanced that you don't need to maintain your own nodes for your service, especially when it comes to small startups.
However, Infura has monopolized the market, and at the moment, Infura is connected to 25% to 50% of all global blockchain applications. On the one hand, this is good, because the owner of Infura is a solid company ConsenSys, but on the other hand, there is no decentralization. The blockchain itself is decentralized, but the access point to the blockchain – Infura – is centralized. This is the only node that keeps consensus, but only developers have access to it.
For example, when you work with an application through MetaMask, it is connected to Infura. When you enter MetaMask and your wallet balance is loaded, the information does not come directly from the blockchain, but Infura takes data from the blockchain and transfers it to MetaMask. There are two possibilities for getting data from the blockchain: either you can be the blockchain node that stores the entire blockchain, or deal with Infura, the node that you pay to provide the data.
Some companies don't want to deal with Infura because it breaks down regularly. This is a serious problem. Decentralization is the solution. But how do you make Infura decentralized? Pocket Network developers have come up with the following model: node-operators of Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, Avalanche and other blockchains are engaged in mining. They are given the opportunity to earn extra money through the fact that they provide their own nodes to third-party developers to use in Infura-like fashion.
Pocket Network has created a payment gateway that charges users a fee for each request addressed to these nodes, and they receive payment in POKT tokens. Thus, Pocket Network provides exactly the same service as Infura, but instead of a single centralized node, there are hundreds or thousands of nodes. For miners, keeping a node is their main business, because if they go offline, they do not receive a block reward. Even if one node crashes, there are many others that process requests addressed to that non-functioning node. This way, the running state of the application is always maintained.
POKT, the native Pocket Network token, is hosted on the Tendermint blockchain, which is connected to the Cosmos blockchain. But the problem is that no matter what blockchain your token is issued on, it must be duplicated on the Ethereum blockchain, where the bulk of the money is concentrated. Otherwise, it will be difficult to raise capital, and it will be difficult for token holders to use them for speculation, investment, etc. Tokens are duplicated through a bridge.
Pocket Network develops a bridge application, thanks to which users can send a POKT token to the address of the bridge. This token is burned, and a wrapped POKT token, which correlates with the POKT token at a one-to-one rate, is created.This wrapped POKT token is issued on Ethereum. If the user wants to do the reverse conversion, he returns a wrapped POKT token, which is burned and a regular POKT token is issued. This is how tokens migrate between blockchains, and Boosty Labs creates a bridge for this.
The period of cooperation is from June 2021 to the present.
Boosty Labs performs smart contracts, backend and frontend work for Pocket Network. The technologies used are Go (backend), React (frontend), Solidity language, and Tendermint Cosmos.