GreenChain


Energy efficient blockchain

Welcome to GreenChain - a low energy, low cost blockchain system developed by BVRio. GreenChain provides a lower GHG emissions solution to blockchain, at an accessible cost.

Blockchains

A blockchain is a list of records, called blocks, which carry data, are linked to each other and have their contents secured by cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block (a fingerprint), a timestamp stating when it was created, and transaction data. A blockchain is resistant to modification of its data by design.

The archetypical use of a blockchain is the representation of a ledger that tracks the transference of some value to and from given parties. Such value is stored in wallets and transactions are used to transfer it from one wallet to another. Transactions are signed by private keys known only by the wallet owner and stored in immutable blocks. Therefore, they are secured from changes.

Sometimes the total amount of available value in a blockchain is created along with the ledger itself; otherwise new amounts are mined over time according to established procedures. Bitcoin, for instance, relies in proof-of-work, requiring the said "miners" to perform extensive computations to get a chance at new coins. Ethereum, on the other hand, uses a different approach called proof-of-stake.

There is growing interest in using the immutability of blockchains to store data of many different kinds. Thus, transactions are created to move a small amount of the intrinsic value, while storing the associated data in the blockchain. However, the growing speculation over Bitcoin and Ethereum has made even a small amount of value way too costly for many use cases.

A common use case

While peer-to-peer data propagation, distributed consensus, and decentralized asset generation make blockchain a cool technology, many use cases do not require such complex and costly features. For instance, the computation associated with consensus is expensive and unfriendly to the environment. We believe there are many uses for blockchains having centralized data storage if immutability can be guaranteed. Such centralization renders consensus unnecessary.

What is GreenChain?

GreenChain is a blockchain that stores its information in a GIT version control system's repository. The GIT repo is owned by the GreenChain instance owner and only this person can make changes to the data it stores. Furthermore, all changes in this data are recorded in a log and, therefore, can be checked for unexpected changes.

A GreenChain starts with a given amount of value and does not allow mining new resources. Thus, it does not require spending energy in useless computations. By providing a simple API and using most free resources, it allows testing your blockchain ideas before moving to a complete blockchain (if you ever want to ...).

Build your own and start experimenting! Get your API key now and go to the API page to see our REST-based interface.