After a decade and a half of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) is now poised for commercialization in the Web3 space, as noted by Muriel Médard, a professor at MIT and co-founder of the blockchain infrastructure firm Optimum.
Optimum made its debut on February 28, emerging as a decentralized memory infrastructure designed for any blockchain aiming to enhance scalability within Web3. The company leverages RLNC technology, initially developed by Professor Médard.
RLNC represents a significant advancement in coding, currently applied in industries such as 5G, satellite communications, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
In a discussion, Médard described RLNC as akin to “breaking a puzzle into smaller segments, mixing them into equations, and forwarding them to your peers.”
“Even if several segments go missing, your peers can still reconstruct the entire puzzle using the pieces they receive. Instead of searching for specific segments, you only need enough of them,” she explained.
The RLNC technology can assist blockchains in addressing “significant scalability bottlenecks” by “encoding data into mathematical equations, which leads to quicker transmission, decreased bandwidth usage, lower barriers for new nodes, and enhanced reliability in delivery,” Médard stated.
Médard partnered with Nancy Lynch, a co-inventor of the Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus, to establish Optimum after “several years of observing the emergence and evolution of Web3,” according to her.
“Our vision is to translate the efficiency of traditional computer memory (RAM) into decentralized networks, creating a foundation for a breakthrough in Web3 infrastructure.”
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“Scale or Fail”
RLNC’s potential application in Web3 has garnered notable support from several investors, some of whom have backed Optimum as angel investors. Among them are Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Wormhole co-founder Robinson Burkey, Polychain’s chief technology officer Abhijeet Mahagaonkar, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen, and DeFiance Capital’s founder and CEO, Arthur Cheong.
Médard remarked that advancements in scalability for Web3 are crucial, especially as blockchain adoption continues to rise for “payments, financial tools, and even diversifying national government strategies.”
“We anticipate that this trend will persist, and as usage and demand grow, blockchains must scale or face failure,” she added.
The challenge of scalability remains one of the industry’s most significant hurdles, having affected the trajectories of both Bitcoin and Ethereum at various stages. Competing networks have made promises to resolve scalability concerns arising from widespread consumer adoption, though their performance history is not without flaws.
Amidst this landscape, the crypto payments ecosystem has transformed notably in recent years, shifting from tokens to stablecoins that offer faster and more cost-effective solutions.
Stablecoins have become one of the most popular applications of blockchain, particularly for payment and cross-border remittance purposes. Source: DefiLlama
An August report from wealth management firm Bernstein indicated that Solana is a leading platform for stablecoin adoption, but it still faces challenges in scaling to meet rising payment and remittance demands.
Despite Solana’s experiments with stablecoin payments via Visa and Shopify, it remains uncertain whether the blockchain can support widespread adoption without a substantial improvement in capacity, as noted by Bernstein.
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