Stellar Unveils New Codebase, White Paper

Decentralized protocol Stellar has released a new codebase and its white paper.

The protocol, a break-off from Ripple , seeks to outdo its progenitor in creating decentralized financial and trust systems, which can, for example, facilitate quick settlements of fiat currency transfers and conversions.

The new codebase is called the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), described as "a construction for federated Byzantine agreement (FBA). SCP provides a way to reach consensus without relying on a closed system to accurately record financial transactions."

Stellar says that Bitcoin concepts were the driving force behind the protocol, but it has sought to make enhancements for attributes that may be considered risky:

"SCP is inspired by Bitcoin—we've taken our lessons from the space and added the ability to tolerate non-rational actors in an environment with low computing power."

Stellar refers to the non-rational by such actors in the form of "Byzantine failure". The Bitcoin protocol, to a large extent, exists upon the assumption that no irrational actor will inflict catastrophic damage if that actor has nothing to gain or much to lose. A "Kamikaze" actor, however, can theoretically pose a significant risk to the network.

Like other protocols, SCP aims to fill this gap. Stellar describes its approach: "Non-federated Byzantine agreement requires unanimous agreement on system membership by all participants—it is a centralized system. Each node in the network must be known and verified ahead of time."

The new system will go live following a testing and peer review period.