Marlin is an open protocol designed to offer a high-performance, programmable network infrastructure tailored for DeFi and Web 3.0 applications. Within the Marlin network, nodes known as Metanodes operate the MarlinVM, which functions as a virtual router interface enabling developers to deploy custom overlays and perform edge computations.
Developers can create several notable overlays using MarlinVM, including:
* Low-latency block multicast to enhance blockchain scalability
* Low-latency mempool synchronization for arbitrageurs
* Mesh networks
* Anonymity networks like mixnets
* Device optimization and caching responses for APIs such as Infura and Alchemy
The native utility token, POND, serves various purposes:
* Operating validator nodes on the network through staking
* Proposing and voting on governance proposals concerning the allocation of network resources
* Selecting a team of network performance auditors and compensating users from an insurance fund if a Service Level Agreement (SLA) is not met
Marlin's mission is to fulfill the vision of a decentralized web where blockchain-secured applications deliver performance on par with traditional Web 2.0 technologies.
Who Founded Marlin?
The minds behind Marlin are developers Siddhartha, Prateesh, and Roshan, all of whom boast considerable expertise in peer-to-peer networking.
Siddhartha played a key role in developing Zilliqa, the first high-throughput blockchain utilizing sharding in a production environment. He has also contributed his skills at companies like Microsoft and Adobe and holds two U.S. patents. Prateesh is a PhD candidate at MIT, focusing on Computer Networks, while Roshan is a passionate supporter of open-source projects and has contributed to the Boost C++ libraries.
The Marlin team includes former researchers from the Ethereum Foundation, International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) world medalists, and developers with backgrounds at Facebook, Cisco, and Bosch. The project’s advisors feature individuals such as the former CEO of BitTorrent and professors from MIT and Princeton, including authors of foundational P2P papers like Chord DHT. Backers of Marlin include Binance Labs, Electric Capital, and Michael Arrington.
What Sets Marlin Apart?
Marlin stands out as one of the few layer-0 projects focused on optimizing the network layer. Much like how Filecoin incentivizes IPFS, Marlin positions itself as an incentivized version of libp2p, making it vital to the decentralized web where networking between distributed nodes is essential for any peer-to-peer application.
Being blockchain-agnostic, Marlin provides gateways compatible with numerous layer-1 and layer-2 platforms. Unlike many other scaling solutions that face the scalability trilemma—compromising on either performance, decentralization, or security—Marlin's network layer improvements avoid these limitations, which typically affect consensus layers.
How Many Marlin Tokens are Currently Available?
The Marlin ecosystem includes two tokens: MPOND and POND. The total supply of MPOND is capped at 10,000, while POND has a limit of 10,000,000,000. A bridge facilitates conversion between the two, exchanging 1 MPOND for 1,000,000 POND and vice-versa. Initially, 4,623 MPOND and 3,184,000,000 POND were created, with POND primarily distributed among validators and the community. These numbers can change over time due to conversions made through the bridge. Each Marlin Metanode must stake MPOND and is rewarded with POND for staking.
How is the Security of the Marlin Network Ensured?
Built on Ethereum, the Marlin network's smart contract execution is safeguarded by Ethereum's nodes.
Additionally:
* Marlin's Metanodes risk having their staked MPOND and delegated POND slashed if they fail to prevent DDoS and spam attacks by not verifying the content they introduce into the network.
* Similar to Proof-of-Work, Marlin employs tunable redundancy through erasure coding, ensuring users receive the performance and availability promised by their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and are charged accordingly.
* A network of third-party auditors, equipped with probes worldwide and approved by the Pond DAO, continuously monitors performance and coverage for applications demanding high reliability. In cases where the network fails to meet its SLA commitments, an insurance fund backed by the DAO compensates affected users.
How Can Marlin (POND) Be Earned?
As a layer-0 initiative committed to its community-driven principles, MPOND is distributed to those staking tokens of various layer-1 platforms through a process called FlowMint. Consequently, POND can be earned by converting MPOND into POND via the bridge, as well as by staking MPOND towards Marlin Metanodes, which yield POND as staking rewards.
