Echo
Blockchain ecosystem with DeFi-styled bridges
- Blockchain
- Web
- Mobile
- Cryptocurrency
- Smart Contracts
- DApps
Echo’s goals
Web3
Set up a convenient environment consisting of customary tools and web3 support that will allow developers to build next-generation dApps
Decentralization
Establish a high level of decentralization while maintaining blazing fast transaction processing speed
DeFi
Introduce a fully-fledged and open-source ecosystem of services for the FinTech industry
Governance
Empower users to freely and securely carry out transactions and become members of a global community
Sidechain
Ensure top interoperability among different chains and allow for the smooth exchange of assets and data
ZK rollup
Tackle Ethereum’s scalability issues with the help of ZK rollup and interchain connection
Layer2
Provide Bitcoin with more DeFi flexibility options
KYC
Guarantee greater data safety via the decentralized identity (DID) mechanism
Work done
Echo explorer
Providing data about current state and transaction history via graphs, charts, and tables
EchoDB
Special service offering public API for Echo data
Echo Committee Dashboard
Displaying relevant and updated statistics
Mobile wallet
iOS and Android multi-currency wallet which provide support for multisignature, BTC and ETH networks and sidechains, ERC20, BLE payments, and TOR connection with network nodes
Desktop wallet
Echo wallet for PC, Mac, and Linux allowing users to create, manage, and import an Echo account, effectively work with contract, and support a full node to make staking effortles
Bridge
Metamask-like browser extension for Echo empowering users to easily access and manage their Echo account data within the web-browser
Blip
Multi-currency desktop wallet with multiple account management and local key storage
Echo studio
Remix-based IDE for Echo smart contracts
JS lib
Javascript Echo library for node.js and browsers
Echo Mobile Frameworks
Allowing mobile platforms to swimmingly interact with the Echo blockchain
Echo SDK
State-of-the-art blockchain framework
ECHO token
Echo’s core asset
SwiftySSS
A special library enabling the implementation of Shamir's Secret Sharing scheme
DID
Sophisticated decentralized identity (DID) mechanism
Echo in numbers
1000+
Transactions per second<$0.01
Transaction cost3+
Years in development11
Successfully deployed products40
Full-time developers involved
Problem
Decentralized finance has spread its influence on several blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Polkadot, Binance, and many others. Yet, Bitcoin has found it difficult to make headway with DeFi because of its inability to provide the required level of interoperability.
Ethereum experiences some troubles too. Despite being the mainstay of decentralized liquidity and DeFi, it poses issues such as throughput jams and high gas costs.
All these problems stem from the fact that the majority of existing operability projects focus on generalized interoperability. Thereby, it’s next to impossible to establish their totally smooth functioning within the DeFi ecosystem.
The majority of existing operability projects focus on generalized interoperability
Solution
Echo in focus
Echo is an advanced Layer 2 network that easily integrates with existing blockchains to provide interoperability and advanced scripting features for crypto assets. It offers a new level of peer communication, enables high-speed asset transfers, and empowers developers to orchestrate high-performing and user-friendly dApps with the ZK rollup bridge connecting to the leading protocols.
Echo welcomes honest partnerships in the blockchain industry and aims to complement parent chains. It is compatible with multiple programming languages, including Solidity, C/C++, Go, Haskell, Python, and Rust.
Key utilities of the Echo network
Parallel architecture
Echo makes use of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and supports Solidity-powered smart contracts. This contributes to Bitcoin’s and other asset migrators’ compatibility with the majority of utilities developed on Ethereum. The EVM has been successfully integrated into the Echo ecosystem, which in the long run allowed for complete Web3 support, meaning that smart contracts don’t have to be modified when transferred from the Ethereum network.
Meanwhile, the zero-knowledge rollup (or ZK-rollup) functionality facilitates the scaling of Ethereum-powered apps while recording the history of all actions on the Echo chain and submitting validity proof to the main chain.
Upgraded asset performance
Echo provides network sidechains and token migrators with higher throughput and reduced transaction fees, thereby fostering a better environment for product feasibility. Notably, executing transactions via the Echo sidechain is considerably cheaper than in other protocols, such as renBTC and wBTC.
Modular interoperability
Echo enables Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ERC-20 tokens to securely integrate into the network and leverage prebuilt apps, decentralized exchanges, and other innovative solutions.
Sophisticated permissioning
Echo’s flexible smart contract permission model makes it possible for developers to smoothly deploy custom frameworks within the ecosystem.
Procedural decentralization
Echo sustains decentralization via an efficient mechanism that tracks participation rates and dynamically adjusts block creation rewards to incentivize node diversity.
Supersonic consensus
The network consensus takes just three seconds to perform an operation. The mechanism uses an Algorand-inspired verifiable random function (VRF) to randomly select a pool of block producers and verifiers, prioritizing the highest stakers.
Echo’s mission is to contribute to the integrity of the DeFi ecosystem, provide smooth interoperability between apps launched on different blockchains, such as Ethereum, Polkadot, or Binance, and serve as an advanced instrumental layer between the most significant bridges and Bitcoin.
Outstanding smart contract functionality
Unified development environment via x64 VM and EVM
Echo provides a convenient environment for smart contract development, integrating both the x64 and Ethereum Virtual Machines. The two functionalities together enable complex data structures, algorithms, and calculations, utilizing any programming language and 3rd party library required for implementation. Moreover, Echo permits users to pay fees for the execution of smart contracts deployed in the Echo network in both ECHO and in the protocol’s native tokens, thereby lowering the entry barriers and allowing for general convenience.
Technology stack
EVM
Thanks to the seamless integration of the EVM with the Echo protocol, the transfer of existing Ethereum-based dApps occurs with minimal code changes, which is impossible in other protocols of a similar type.
The Ethereum Virtual Machine also facilitates the development of smart contracts in Solidity, providing a unified environment and tools to easily migrate apps to Echo.
X64 VM
The X64 Virtual Machine supports smart contracts built with major programming languages, frameworks, libraries, compilers, IDEs, and a variety of other tools.
It can also be represented as a layer that can conduct data analysis at a low level, connect trading bots, and even serve as a foundation for building those bots. In addition, this logic can be used for creating new interfaces that would correspond to the requirements of an exchange.
Sophisticated Bitcoin and Ethereum sidechains
The Echo blockchain comes with Ethereum and Bitcoin sidechains that grant better network interoperability. This innovative functionality allows developers to create top-performing DeFi solutions on the high-liquidity protocol and introduce customary contracts into the Bitcoin chain.
Echo's sidechains work through a bi-directional peg. They allow Echo account owners to securely exchange their BTC, ETH, and ERC-20 tokens with the corresponding assets in the Echo network, namely eBTC and eETH. The eBTC/eETH can be used to interact with a smart contract, traded on an exchange, and transferred to another user.
Technology stack
How does the sidechain mechanism function?
- 1
The user sends a request to receive a deposit address, indicating the sum they’d like to use to top up the balance (e.g. 1 BTC)
- 2
The committee locks up the corresponding amount of BTC in ECHO tokens and issues eBTC to the contract address
- 3
The user gets the deposit address and makes sure that their locked assets are safe and sound
- 4
The user transfers BTC to the received address
- 5
The user sends the transaction confirmation to the Echo network
- 6
Once the transaction has been confirmed, the user gets the previously locked-up 1eBTC
- 1
The user initiates the withdrawal of their funds and locks up the desired sum in the contract
- 2
The committee of validators sends the transaction to Bitcoin
- 3
The committee directs the transaction confirmation to the Echo network and gets back its locked-up ECHO tokens
- 4
If the committee fails to withdraw the funds at a particular time, the user has the ability to unblock the ECHO themselves
Top-performing ZK-rollup functionality
The zero-knowledge rollup is an efficient Layer 2 scaling solution that executes transactions on the Echo chain, yet creates and posts a cryptographic proof (also known as a validity proof) on Layer 1. This functionality helps scale the network and allows for the processing of more transactions.
The ZK-rollup smart contract keeps the data about all transfers on the Echo chain, and it’s only possible to update this data with a special validity proof, rather than any transaction data.
With zero-knowledge rollup, users can validate blocks much faster and more cheaply, since this approach requires less data. Furthermore, there are no delays when moving funds from Layer 2 to Layer 1, since a validity proof accepted by the ZK-rollup contract has already verified the funds.
Technology stack
Blazing-fast proof-of-weighted-randomness consensus
Echo is predicated on the custom EchoRand consensus mechanism.
The primary goal of EchoRand is to reduce the amount of explicit synchronization needed for reaching consensus in a distributed ledger. EchoRand allows for a greater degree of decentralization through the involvement of all users in the consensus process. It produces trust through verifiable randomness and, crucially, delivers top performance by limiting the proportion of users required for consensus in each round.
Echo’s proof-of-weighted-randomness (PoWR) consensus is a Byzantine agreement protocol, where a small committee of block producers (a.k.a. block validators) are chosen randomly from the entire set of network actors. The likelihood of being randomly selected for the committee is proportional to a user’s balance of tokens. Noteworthy is that the committee exists only for a single block, and a new one is randomly chosen for each new block of transactions. The network remains secure as long as at least 33% of tokens are held by honest actors.
Technology stack
Native ECHO token
Echo supports a wide range of assets and tokens, including native assets, sidechain assets, and contract-controlled tokens.
As well as this, Echo possesses its own core asset — the ECHO token — which grants its holders the right to take part in the protocol governance and is used as a type of gas fee currency.
Striving towards a refined DeFi economy
Echo is poised to accelerate the decentralized economy by making digitized commercial services and blockchain web payments more efficient. In addition to providing advanced Bitcoin smart contract functionalities and better Ethereum scalability, the primary applications of the protocol include:
Stablecoins
Stablecoins collateralized by Bitcoin
Derivatives
Derivatives with native BTC support
Lending
High liquidity with BTC-collateralized loans
Exchanges
Exchange solutions for peer-to-peer trading of BTC and other assets
Payments
Secure transactions with ECHO, ETH and BTC powered by smart contracts
Asset tokenization
Tokenization platforms for issuing and exchanging digital securities
Insurance platforms
Insurance apps covering events such as hacks and transaction issues
Decentralized identity
Sovereign identity protocols compliant with KYC, AML, and other regulations
Echo FAQs
Layer 2 is used to describe projects and protocols that are created on the basis of existing blockchains. Their primary goal is to provide novel and advanced functionalities and transaction logic mechanisms that will guarantee enhanced efficiency. Examples of Layer 2 solutions include the Lightning Network for Bitcoin and Plasma for Ethereum.
While many popular Layer 2 solutions focus mainly on off-chain transactions or transfers using a singular asset, Echo links multiple parentchains and enables all functions to interoperate harmoniously on one execution layer. It effortlessly integrates with existing blockchains and provides top scripting features for crypto assets.
- 1
The stablecoin will be pegged to Bitcoin
The collateral obligation resource is provided by eBTC which is a representation of the BTC stablecoin in the Echo network.
In the Ethereum network, for example, the collateral obligation resource is provided only by its native token ETH. - 2
Absence of intermediate tokens
When launching a stablecoin on the Echo network, you’ll be exempted from any token conversions, since Echo empowers users to smoothly conduct operations with the existing assets.
- 3
The contract system of the stablecoin will be governed by a set of trusted accounts
The role of an oracle in the Echo network is performed by a special committee which is a set of trusted accounts selected by ECHO holders. These accounts will be responsible for informing the contract system of the current market rate of different coins, such as MKR, DAI, or BTC.
One of the major benefits of Echo is that it provides for the development of novel and avant-garde decentralized exchanges. Having elaborate sidechains at its core, Echo possesses an infrastructure where all interactions between users and exchanges are totally decentralized and uncompromisingly secure.
In addition to this, Echo makes use of the decentralized identity functionality which supplies both traders and exchanges with due safety assurances, reduces data vulnerability, and generates unprecedented levels of trust among participants.
Echo takes advantage of Compound which is one of the largest protocols for loanable funds (PLFs) in terms of locked funds.
Echo Compound facilitates the creation of liquidation mechanisms via decentralized exchanges and uses the most favorable exchange rates at the time instead of relying on preset ones. Notably, the liquidation calculation mechanism can be smoothly executed on the exchange itself without involving other participants.
Project features
- Quick deployment
- 5-second transaction confirmation
- Open and fair governance
- Top security guaranteed by EchoRand
- Opportunity to create innovative cutting-edge dApps
- Compatibility with several languages
- Support for different assets
- Fully inclusive environment
- High level of decentralization
- Low transaction fees
- Strong resistance to blockchain forks and reorganizations
- Fast finality
