Komodo is pleased to announce the release of updated documentation for the open-source blockchain developer community. Creating streamlined documentation for new developers is a primary focus of the Komodo team, as we hope to attract new developers into the Komodo ecosystem.

Find Komodo’s new developer documentation here.

If you’re a developer who’s interested in blockchain, you may be wondering what the relative merits of Komodo are in relation to other blockchain ecosystems. This post will highlight all of the advantages Komodo offers over other platforms.

Why Komodo? A Summary Of Advantages

There are many benefits to using the Komodo framework over other blockchain platforms. One important thing to point out is that, at this time, a Komodo-based asset chain is unlike anything else currently available on the blockchain market.

Most other blockchain platforms run a layer-one blockchain, and the journeyman developer runs their smart-contract code in a virtual machine, or on a side chain that runs on top of the layer-one chain. In many circumstances, the end-user pays gas and transaction fees in the token of the layer-one chain, regardless of the end-user's objective.



Komodo is completely different. You get your own full blockchain entirely to yourself. All that is required is that you keep the basic Komodo framework in place, as it facilitates your connection to the security of the Bitcoin hash rate, and also your connection to other asset chains and features.

A Komodo-based blockchain, called an "asset chain", is a fully independent blockchain that is forked from Komodo technology and has the option of using Komodo's many services, including Komodo's security and scalability features.

The term "asset chain" is used because the coins in the blockchain are assets owned by you and your blockchain's users. The unique combination of technology in a Komodo asset chain grants businesses and developers an increased level of freedom.

No Gas/Transaction Fees

Furthermore, your end-users do not have to pay gas/transaction fees in KMD for each transaction. Instead, you get to decide what is required, and Komodo features many tools to facilitate your approach.

Limitless Scalability On Demand

In addition, because your asset chain is its own independent blockchain, your scalability is limitless and is not affected by activity elsewhere in the Komodo ecosystem.



If another asset chain in the Komodo ecosystem has a sudden surge of activity, your asset chain does not slow down at all, as you are both on entirely separate consensus mechanisms.



On the other hand, if activity on your asset chain hits an extremely high level and causes your chain to slow down, you can bifurcate your asset chain into two linked asset chains. Using this method, we have already proved that the Komodo ecosystem can run more than 40,000 transactions per second, and we are prepared to scale to 1,000,000 and beyond.



Your creativity is not limited by the mathematical constraints that affect other blockchain platforms, but instead only by hardware and your imagination.



If you want to write the first Uber-like dApp, Komodo is the platform for you.

Interoperability is a Cinch

Because our initial concept was to create a network of secure and independent asset chains, we designed our network from the ground-up for blockchain interoperability.



For example, you can run as many asset chains as you want, and through our cross-chain burn protocol, you can burn coins or tokens on one asset chain and have them appear on another.



Or, maybe you want to coordinate with a business partner's asset chains? Not a problem. Our technology allows you to monitor and update your chain's state and smart-contracts based on observations of other asset chains and participating third-party blockchains.



What if you want to trade value directly with blockchains outside the Komodo ecosystem? We've got you covered. With our atomic-swap powered decentralized exchange, AtomicDEX, you can swap coins with any blockchain that is built on either the Bitcoin or Ethereum software. Support for additional blockchain software depends on demand.

Built-in Zero-knowledge Privacy

Many blockchain platforms say they'll have privacy one day, but how and when they'll get there remains a mystery.



In Komodo, we knew privacy would be an essential feature for any developer with a good head on their shoulders. That's why we started our platform as a fork of Zcash (which is itself a fork of Bitcoin).



The Zcash parameters aren't your usual coin-mixer. Rather, with this zero-knowledge technology, you have the tools to spend your coins while leaving zero data in the public domain for later analysis.



Every asset chain has the Zcash parameters pre-installed, putting the power to protect both you and your end-users from people who just don't know how to mind their own business.

Your Blockchain's Engine Belongs to You

Having a blockchain all to yourself grants a competitive level of freedom to your creative endeavors.



The highly advanced developer that wishes to engineer your own consensus mechanism can move forward rapidly with your ideas, backed up with the hash rate of Bitcoin.



Unlike other platforms, there is no need to wait for the Komodo team to update either the default daemon's functionality, or to update the main Komodo blockchain (KMD).



So long as we can verify and approve your changes before we pull them into our delayed Proof of Work security service, you are able to create at will.

Discover What Others Create

On the other hand, a developer that does not wish to be a core blockchain engineer, but rather to spend their energy only on building decentralized applications (dApps), also receives benefits.



When an advanced blockchain engineer in the ecosystem creates a useful new concept or template on their own asset chain, they can choose to contribute this code to the default Komodo daemon.



Once accepted by the Komodo team, this functionality is then available to all developers throughout the ecosystem.



For example, one of the most innovative projects in the Komodo ecosystem, VerusCoin, recently solved the Nothing-At-Stake problem that has long plagued Proof-of-Stake blockchains. They generously share their code with the rest of the ecosystem, and Verus Proof of Stake will be included in the default Komodo daemon for use by other Komodo projects soon.

Open-source Updates and Modules are Free

If there's one thing we've learned since we made our first atomic-swap in 2014, it's that blockchain technology is growing faster than any one person can possibly keep up.



The good news for you is that our team does much of the work for you. When you are a subscriber to our services, updates to our open-source code are free.

The Komodo Declaration of Independence

What if you someday want to move elsewhere? We would be sad to see you go, but the freedom to leave is perhaps the most essential piece of Komodo's design. In fact, read our history, and you'll discover that this freedom is the reason why our platform exists in the first place.



Since your asset chain is a fully independent blockchain, there's no need go through the mess of manually transferring end-user's ERC20 tokens into a new blockchain or any other cumbersome departure. Just stop making payments for our services, and you and your end-users can head off into the great beyond.

Many More Advantages to Discover

These are just a few (of many!) advantages that Komodo offers to our ecosystem developers.



If you want a deep dive into how the tech works, check out our full white paper here.

Learn About BarterDEX and Agama

Once you purchase our Blockchain Security Service and scalability solution, you are eligible to add your asset chain to our ecosystem-wide native DEX, BarterDEX, and Komodo’s multi-coin wallet, Agama.

Get Involved

To get help in real time and chat with Komodo’s core developers, join the Komodo community on Discord and explore the various channels. In particular, you may find #developer and #suport channels especially useful.

To get all of the latest updates from Komodo, sign up for our monthly newsletter and join our vibrant community on Discord.

We hope this post has been informative and we hope to see you around in the Komodo community. Join us as we continue to accelerate the global adoption of blockchain technology.