OpenST-Gateway v0.9.3-rc1

OpenST Protocol 0.9.3 further decentralizes the OpenST Protocol and improves the usability of the Protocol, as described below.

We introduce the concept of a gateway between the Ethereum value chain and OpenST utility chains. It consists of 3 elements:

• A gateway contract on the value chain, also referred to as the “origin chain”.
• A corresponding co-gateway contract on a utility chain or the auxiliary chain.
• An ERC20 contract on the utility chain that mints and burns utility tokens for an equivalent value of ERC20 tokens staked and unstaked on the value chain in the gateway contract.

This release includes the gateway and usability enhancements.

To achieve atomicity when transposing tokens across a gateway, the Protocol combines a 2-phase commit-structure on the value chain (Ethereum) and the utility chain (OpenST) with a hash-timelock (HTL) in the contract.

The gateway relies only on Merkle proofs of the OpenST contract state the remote blockchain to prove user intentions. It enables any user to transfer (staking/unstaking) information between blockchains without relying on the signature of a trusted party in the gateway process. This is a decentralization improvement from the earlier versions.

We also introduce the concept of a “facilitator” to relieve the end-user from the requirement to be online and act on multiple blockchains. The facilitator stakes a “bounty” in order to act on behalf of the user. This bounty acts as an economic incentive that ensures compliance with the process, which obviates the facilitator from being a trusted party. A staked facilitator can complete a user’s request (and earn a fee upon completion - part of 0.9.4) This actor may be any third-party machine running an OpenST node, once the fee market is introduced. Currently OST KIT user interface and APIs function as a facilitator by handling staking and minting on behalf of OST KIT’s users on Ropsten testnet.

Detailed changelog here.