Elrond

Elrond (eGold, EGLD) is a native utility token powering Elrond — a platform offering very fast transactions through the use of Adaptive State Sharding. It builds on the concepts introduced by some blockchain networks like Algorand, bringing innovative features into the mix. Elrond was founded in 2017.

Elrond’s purpose, as often is the case in the blockchain space, is to offer an optimal solution for the blockchain trilemma: providing scalability while keeping the network secure and decentralized. One of the more promising ways to achieve this is sharding, a technique first used in traditional databases. It entails splitting the database into interconnected pieces, or shards, which can be processed simultaneously, thus speeding up the work. Blockchain can utilize three types of sharding: network, transaction, and state sharding, all of which come with their challenges. Elrond uses all three types, which makes this network especially fast.

Another innovation pioneered by Elrond is the Secure Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism (SPoS), which is an improvement on the original Proof-of-Stake. In SPoS, the block proposer node is selected randomly, making it unpredictable and therefore hard to tamper with. Also, validator nodes are chosen not only based on their stake but also taking into account their rating — a history of the node’s behavior.

Elrond coin — eGold — is used for staking, transaction fees, other payments like the smart contract fees, and is a primary medium of exchange on the platform. EGLD token holders will also be eligible to claim Elrond MEX — the token that will be distributed to the users of Maiar Exchange, a DEX that is a part of the Elrond ecosystem.