MATRIX AI NETWORK

The philosophy of the Matrix AI Network (or just Matrix for short) is a philosophy from a well known Chinese philosopher called “Lao Tzu”. Lao Tzu once said ““the key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.”

And the higher dimension that they want to introduce into crypto space to facilitate growth is artificial intelligence or AI.

The major problems of current blockchain platforms are fourfold.

i) Scalability — speed of data processing and storage

ii) Interoperability — ease of communicating with other blockchains or legacy systems

iii) Sustainability — a self-sustaining economy of the project

iv) Security — protection against hacking or dysfunction

All 3rd generation platforms try to address these 4 aspects to some degree, but most platform projects excel in one particular aspect and that becomes their selling point or attractive feature to potential users. For example, EOS, HPB, IOST, excel in speed. And their main attraction is their fast throughput. ICON, WANCHAIN, CHAINLINK, ONTOLOGY etc.. excel in interoperability. That is their main selling feature. So most blockchain platforms have one main outstanding feature.

Matrix is trying to be the best in every area a block chian needs to be. Check this out. For starters, they are boasting that they will be able to achieve 1million trx/ secs. That’s far far ahead of almost every other blockchains. Many of the third generation blockchain protocols are only boasting 1–2.5k trx/ sec, scaling up to 10,000trx/sec. A million trx/sec is super high. It would make it not only one of the fastest systems in the blockchain scene, it would make it one of the fastest systems in the world. Currently only 3 other blockchain projects besides Matrix dares to boast such speed and they are EOS, HPB and Credits.

Matrix is also boasting that it will be the easiest platform to use, because they are the only platform project in blockchain where users can use smart contracts without knowing programming language. If this is true, they are opening a flood gate to a huge influx of users that blockchain has never seen before. They are boasting that they will have 350x the number of users compared to Etherum (and they calculated this based on the number of people who know programming to those who don’t), and Etherum is the biggest platform currently, having about a hundred times more projects that the average platform.

They are also boasting because of the AI, they will be one of the most secure projects in the blockchain world and they also have automatic evolution features, basically infinite self-upgrading.

This is crazy guys, if they can really achieve all the above, they would easily be one of the best platforms in the crypto world. To find out about how they plan to achieve it, lets take a look at their tech.

TECH

The first feature of their tech I want to introduce to you is their concensus algorithm.

Their concensus algorithm is actually a hybrid model of Proof of stake as well as proof of work.

Hybrid PoS + PoW consensus based on stochastic network contraction

So where in POW every transaction is processed by all the nodes, in this concensus algorithm, the entire network is broken into smaller clusters of nodes. Within each cluster of nodes, there is a POS process that results in one delegate node being selected. And it is only these delegate nodes that do the actual POW. So this means that even though every node is involved in the process, very few nodes are actually doing the POW, freeing the rest of the nodes to repeat the process and do more transactions simultaneously.

Now the transaction speed of any platform is heavily reliant on its concensus algorithm, because it affects the latency of throughput. In Matrix case, they are boasting they will be able to reach 1million transactions / sec.

The chance of a node being selected as a delegate node to do POW, depends on the staking power of the node. So the more you stake, the higher the chance of being selected. However, even amongst those who are shortlisted, only a smaller number get chosen and this is based on random selection. This prevents the people with highest stakes from repeatedly getting chosen which would result in the rich getting richer and a centralising of the whole process. The actual mining is not currently available, but the team is working on it. Follow their channel for more information.

SMART CONTRACTS

The next feature to introduce to you is called Deep learning based code generation for smart contracts

A significant advantage of MATRIX is that users of smart contracts no longer need to know how to do coding with a programming language. As a matter of fact, Matrix only requires a user to type in the purpose of the contract in natural language, and the AI will convert it into a smart contract. This technology is called deep learning.

Deep learning technology is actually something that very big companies on the internet are already using e.g. google and yahoo are already doing to assist in programming. The neural network is the specific modification to this already existent deep learning technology to convert the plan to smart contracts. In fact, smart contracts are actually easier to generate than normal programs, because whilst normal programming has infinite possibilities, at the moment, smart contracts only have 40–60 programming patterns, so its much easier to make a template for the AI. So this is not an impossible goal, it is very real, and its just around the corner.

If this feature works guys, it will be absolutely game changing, I can’t even begin to imagine the impact it will have on blockchain. This one platform alone could open the door to mass adoption of blockchain technology.

SECURITY:

MATRIX is designed to boost the security of blockchain to an unprecedented level.

The overall security framework of MATRIX consists of four major components, 1) a rule-based semantic and syntactic analysis engine for smart contracts, 2) a formal verification toolkit to prove the security properties of smart contracts, 3) an AI-based detection engine for transaction model identification and security checking, and 4) a deep learning based platform for dynamic security verification and enhancement.

i) Syntactic and semantic analysis

a. Think of this simply as a supervisor of the system checking of the members, the work done by the members and the ensuring the standard of work done by the members are roughly the same

ii) Formal verification of smart contracts

a. The best way to describe this is, even though Smart contracts are complete in what they do, under different circumstances, the same smart contract can behave differently. Sometimes this results in abnormal execution or a loophole that can be exploited. Matrix AI has a formal verification framework that will validate the security of smart contracts.

iii) AI-based verification of smart contracts

a. How this verification differs from the formal verification above is like this. Think of the formal verification checking the execution of the smart contract, e.g. 1+1 must equal 2. AI based verification is a deep learning software that discovers the hidden intention of smart contracts and detect patterns of security vulnerabilities. So its not a simple check like checking an equation is correct, it’s a grilling process like an detective who is questioning the suspect, asking them where they are going and checking their actions are consistent with the intention.

iv) Dynamic verification and security optimization based on deep neural network

The above 3 methods of security are what we call static security. Meaning the act on the existing smart contracts, or the core components of the system.

A dynamic security refers to loopholes that can only be exposed during the actual execution of the smart contracts. Think of it like the previous 3 were inspecting the part of a car engine and this dynamic verification is the actual test drive of the engine. The famous DAO attack was an example of a dynamic vulnerability. To address this MATRIX employs two different approaches, generative adversarial network (GAN) based security verification and distributed concurrence-based dynamic model verification. We won’t go into detail because it’s too technical, but just know they have ways testing the actual functioning of a smart contract.

With all these layers of security run the AI, you can see why they are boasting an unprecedented level of security in the blockchain arena.

Highly flexible blockchain architecture

The next feature of theirs addresses interoperability and is a highly flexible blockchain architecture. They achieve this flexible blockchain architecture by two means.

i) Multi-chain structure of MATRIX

Matrix blockchain will host multiple different data-chains. Different data chains will support data from different blockchains, e.g. one data chain to support Bitcoin and one Ethereum data chain. The two chains can exchange data and tokens through MATRIX’s secure smart contracts.

In addition it uses a complex 3 –tier security system which involves encryption of data to secure the data.

ii) Natural evolution of blockchain parameters

This is one of the most impressive part of Matrix’s tech to me.

A blockchain typically has a multitude of parameters such as block size, permission algorithm, consensus mechanisms, and mining algorithms. The configuration of these parameters has a significant impact on the overall performance of a blockchain. It is generally impossible to choose an optimal group of parameters for all situations. However, a dramatic change of these parameters incurs great risks for hardfork of cryptocurrencies.

A reinforcement learning based parameter optimization engine is embedded into MATRIX blockchains. A so-called value network continuously learns the long-term rewards of finetuning various parameters. After learning, the network can generate best parameter-tuning decision given the current structure and environment of a given blockchain. Since the MATRIX chain learns to optimize itself, the whole process is designated as natural evolution.

So basically, the network is designed to continually grow itself and theoretically Matrix will never have a fork because it will always be the best possible version of itself.

Proof-of-work with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) computations

One last piece of their tech I wanna share with you is the way they do Proof of Work which is not with the traditional Hash functions but with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) computations. Now when I first saw this bit in the white paper, I actually skipped it. I thought this is getting too technical, and I wasn’t going to cover it with you guys. But then I was doing abit of learning for my own interest and I was blown away by what I found. So I’m gonna cut through all the complicated equations here and show you something very unique about Matrix.

In proof of work, mining is done using hash functions. Hash functions is basically a cryptographic process that has many features that make it suitable for mining e.g. it cannot be replicated, easy to calculate, its not reversible etc.. MCMC also has suitable features that make it suitable for mining. But what I want to point out here is that Hash Functions are cryptographic, meaning Hash functions are only relevant to crypto projects. So even though the entire system is doing the same transaction, almost nothing is being achieved. Only one very lucky node will find a bitcoin, everyone else has just wasted their time and energy.

MCMC is not a cryptographic function, it is a sampling/ statistical procedure. Because it uses a computation that is useful for almost any statistical procedure, the entire excess processing power of the system can be outsourced to other projects to provide AI computation. So energy is not lost, it is harnassed and can in fact be sold or used to do useful things. This is a technology that no other blockchain has used.

In a recent lifestream with boxmining, their chief scientist Dr Deng also confirmed that because the company would get an additional source of income for the computation work they are lending others, they would also reward miners with part of that income.

So this is a great system. Because where in traditional mining, the bigger the network, the more wastage there is, in MCMC the bigger the network, the more powerful the AI computation power becomes, and that is harnasses to benefit the scientific society but also it offers a secondary reward to the company and miners. So duo income source from mining!

Unfortunately, Dr Deng did admit that traditional CPU and even GPUs won’t be very effective in mining Matrix because the process is sampling not hash functions. So the team is actually designing their own hardware chip for mining!

At this point, I’m quite blown away by this project. Conceptually, they have possibly one of the best if not the best platform tech that I’ve come across. It has so many impressive features.

Now lets take a look at the team, to see if they have the capabilities to pull this off.

When you first look at their team, it will strike you as unusual that their CEO is at the bottom of the list of 4. It’s only a list of the leaders, but still, the CEO is usually at the top right? But after you read through the roles and resume, it makes sense because the person anchoring this project is not their CEO but Steve Deng their Chief AI scientist.

Steve Deng

Prof. Deng is an associative professor of Tsinghua University, which is one of China’s top universities. Prior to Tsinghua, he was with Magma Design Automation as a consulting technical staff. He received his Ph.D. degree from Carnegie Mellon University and his research interests include machine learning, industry data analytics, and computer architecture. He has been the PI or Co-PI for numerous national level research projects. Since 2016, he has been the Vice Principle Architect of China Railway Rollingstock Corporation’s Prognostics Health Management for High-Speed Trains Project. His book, Structural IC Design and High Level Synthesis, was adopted as the textbook of IC design by Tsinghua and many other universities. His work on deep learning based image detection was ranked #1 in many prestigious challenges (e.g. PASCAL VOC and COCO). He is the author or co- author of over 50 papers. He received many awards, including a best paper award on International Conference on Computer Design 2013, NVIDIA partnership professor Award, and Tsinghua Key Talent Award.

His not the only impressive one.

Bill Li — Chief Network Architect

is a leading expert of communication and IC design. He is a major contributor of many 4G, 4.5G(NB-IoT) and 5G standards of China. He was the chief architect of China’s first WiFi transceiver IC. As a Co-PI, he led the design of the dispatch communication system of China’s first aircraft carrier. His work on communication IC designs won numerous national awards. His book, Communication IC Design, was the best-selling textbook in this area and is used by many prestigious universities.

Tim Shi — Chief Chip Scientist

Prior to joining MATRIX, he was a Principal System Architect of AMD and also responsible for the technology partnership of AMD with companies and universities in greater China. Before this position, he held various position at different leading international IC companies such as Synopsys and ARM. Dr. Shi was also with Samsung Semiconductor as a senior chip design engineer.

Owen Tao — CEO

double-major (physics and economics) program of Peking University. Holding the CEO positions in several high-tech startup companies, he has rich experience in managing product development. He supervised the development of the 3D virtual community, China’s first embedded game advertising system and other Internet technology products. He also has strong skills in product operation and promotion. He led the development and operation of China’s first cross- border e-commerce platform, which attracted 20 million users around the world.

So these guys are not your average young entrepeunears blockchain team. They are heavy weights mature, and experienced, world leaders in the field. If anyone can pull this off, they certainly can.

This is their board of advisors. Very impressive individuals. I mean these are the guys that the already very impressive team looks up to. For the sake of time, I won’t read out their resumes, but do go through it in your own time, its quite mindblowing, with multiple national awards, international successes, working experience in Yahoo, Goldstone etc..

Im just very impressed with their team.

Their partners and assoications include hyperledger and linux foundation, the two kinda come hand in hand I guess. And a number of Chinese companies I don’t recognise.

Strategic contibutors whom I am assuming is the same as angel investors include a number of capital groups so that’s always a good sign cos it means the industrial level professional investors are also paying attention to this project.

ROADMAP

In September this year will be their “age of Genesis” which is private chain/ interchain transactions

December we will see “Age of speed” which is light speed network, POS+POW concensus etc… this is the stage we will really start to see the achieve high transaction speeds, so keep your eye on it

And then it continues all the way to 2020 January which is when we will see mining released. So unfortunately, we can’t mine any time soon.

But one potentially important news from the team not on their roadmap is the news of being listed on upcoming exchanges. Big shoutout to JamesL on our telegram chat for sharing this with us:

“At the same time, progress has been made in negotiating with some of the top exchanges around the globe: MATRIX is likely to be listed on two of the top five exchanges in the English speaking world and several of the largest exchanges in Japan and Korea.”

So no time frames given, but we can expect this to happen sometime soon. Currently they are only on Etherdelta, gate.io and Idex. They are not even on Kucoin yet. I think that is a big reason why they are so under the radar especially to the western world. We all know the Binance effect, but if they are talking about major listings, we can expect the price to rise significantly. It might never be as cheap as it is now again.

When they first hit the exchanges they were $1.07 and now they are sitting at $0.74. So they’ve actually fallen below opening price by more than 25%! That’s a huge in crypto market pricing and its shame cos a project of this quality deserves a much higher price point. But it also means it’s a big discount at the moment.

If you look at the graph as well, it is very volatile, theres not clear strong line of resistance. Which I find surprising given that they have quite a big community with over 16k telegram users. I think what is happening, and this is just my speculation is that many people are seeing the potential in this project, but because it’s so underrated, a lot of token investors are only putting a bit of their portfolio into this and that’s why even though their Telegram community is almost as big as the ICON community, the price is much more volatile.

The other consideration is that MAN token has only ever see a bear market. We haven’t had a chance to see it in a bull market. It’s ranked 118 with a market cap just over 110million. It’s not on any big exchanges. I think it has a lot of room to grow.

I like this project because they have a solid team, they are aiming to be one of the top 5 fastest platforms, most secure platform, easiest access — the only platform where a user can use smart contracts without needing programming skills, and its self-evolving so no forking ever. There’s a lot to like about this project and not much to dislike. I tried hard to be critical with them, cos I like to offer a balanced view in these reviews, but really I found nothing to fault this project on.

I personally think, underrated chinese platform projects like Matrix and HPB have a chance to challenge Ethereum one day. (I had to throw HPB in there, cos its my favorite platform and personally in my own head I compare every platform to HPB and so far, Matrix is the only platform that comes close). If you want to learn more about another good platform, check out our HPB video.

Etherum’s current market cap is over $50 billion right now. At one point at its peak it was just over $80 billion I believe. If Matrix ever got to Ether’s current market cap of $50 billion, it would be 500x gains, that’s 50,000% gains. It’s a stupidly bullish figure that I can’t even put as a thumbnail, because people would immediately dismiss it as unrealistic shilling. Yet I think in the next few years, it is actually very possible. Once blockchain hits mass adoption, I think a lot of good platforms can see 5x, 10x even 20x. But a couple of the very outstanding platforms like this one that have a real chance to get up to Ethererum’s current marketcap one day and even overtaking Ethereum, and I’d look forward to that day, because when it comes Il very likely be holding a big bag of MAN.

So that’s it guys. I hope you found this post helpful. If you liked this post, do it a clap so that others can find this article too. Thanks for reading this, have a great day and Il catch you guys soon for another article! :)