Blockless, the First Network Powered by Everyday Devices, Begins Phase 2 of its Incentivised Testnet — The Missing Orchestrator

Phase 2 of the Incentivised Testnet is Underway; What is the Missing Orchestrator?

Blockless Network introduces the world's first modular compute network, harnessing the power of everyday devices such as computers, laptops, and tablets distributed globally.

The key to transforming this diverse array of devices into a fast and reliable network for applications and users lies in Automated Orchestration, determining the optimal placement of nodes.

This is achieved through "Dynamic Resource Matching" (DRM), a sophisticated system that assigns different workloads across various applications to different nodes based on the workload's requirements and the node's capabilities.

In Phase 2 of Blockless' incentivised testnet, which commenced just over a week ago and will run for a month, the Orchestrator has disappeared, leaving participants to manage the network independently.

To succeed in this phase of the incentivised testnet, participants must embody a node powering the Blockless Network.

Typically, this node would be embedded within the Chrome tab of any Blockless decentralised application (dApp), automatically providing compute resources either through the Chrome tab or the upcoming Chrome extension.

Under normal conditions, the network would assign workloads to your device based on factors like geolocation, internet speed, core/thread count, and historic performance.

However, with the Orchestrator missing, participants must now manually select and process workloads, possibly with the assistance of others.

Here is how Phase 2 of the testnet will operate:

- There is no points system; instead, participants accrue time by completing various workloads. Blockless believes that the time invested in carrying out workloads should be rewarded.

- Workloads vary in duration based on their size, and some may offer additional rewards or perks, while others could potentially slow you down.

- Each map contains a finite number of workloads. Once completed, these cannot be repeated.

- As more users join to support the network, the number of maps added daily will increase.

- Click on different blocks to start different workloads. The time spent on each is equivalent to the time you will receive. You are limited to completing no more than three tasks simultaneously.

- Referring a friend grants both of you a 10% boost in time.

- The leaderboard will showcase who has accumulated the most time and who ranks at the bottom.

Blockless Secured $8 Million in Two Early-Stage Funding Rounds

On 22 May, Blockless announced the successful completion of its pre-seed and seed funding rounds, securing a total of $8 million.

The pre-seed round, valued at $3 million, was led by NGC Ventures, while M31 Capital and Frachtis, a new fund established by Xavier Meegan, the chief investment officer of staking firm Chorus One, co-led the seed round, which was worth $5 million.

Additional investors in both rounds included No Limit Holdings, MH Ventures, Interop Ventures, and Plassa Capital.

The seed round commenced in February and concluded in April, as mentioned by Co-Founder and CEO Butian Li, who previously served as an investor at NGC Ventures.

Both funding rounds were structured as a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), accompanied by token warrants in a 1:1 ratio, Li further explained.

She chose not to disclose the valuation but indicated that the terms of both rounds were "similar."

The purpose of the funds raised is to advance the development and expansion of the Blockless project, although the specific allocation of the funds was not detailed in the announcement.

What is Blockless?

Blockless' litepaper highlights that dApps built solely on blockchain networks relinquish the ability for users to directly provide compute power and to utilise alternative verification and consensus methods, resulting in monolithic, inefficient, and unscalable applications confined to a single verification method and a homogenous network of nodes for various computations.

Blockless addresses these challenges with its network-neutral application (nnApp) framework, which allows users to contribute compute power simply by opening the application, leveraging what they term 'nestled node' infrastructure.

Li said:

"Users don't have to run a special node or download any software. Blockless has created a WebAssembly (WASM) application framework that features a 'nestled node' embedded in the application, meaning that when users open an application, they will automatically be providing compute resources to that particular application through the Blockless network."

As a DePIN project, Blockless aims to enable users to automatically provide computing power to their applications via its network, serving as the infrastructure platform for launching, integrating, and securing nnApps with unparalleled speed.

These next-generation dApps are compatible with all blockchain networks while being free from their limitations.

All nnApps can harness compute resources from their own users' devices and reward them accordingly.

While applications may choose to keep governance and token workloads on Ethereum or another blockchain, and data availability workloads on Celestia or EigenLayer, intensive computations for use-cases such as machine learning, AI interfaces, and gaming will be processed through the fully decentralised, faster, and efficient off-chain environment provided by Blockless, all via the application's user base.

This approach ensures that computational support for these applications scales directly with the growth in the number of users, with more users contributing more community-provided computing power.

This signifies a shift in how users experience the internet, where for the first time, end-to-end decentralisation will be achievable for applications and their users, without the costs, complexities, and performance issues often associated with decentralised networks.

As a result, decentralised applications can benefit from centralised speeds while enjoying the advantages of decentralisation, and off-chain heavy computations with the benefits of on-chain finality.

Blockless' vision is to establish a Modular Application Architecture where nnApps can maintain full-stack decentralisation and security while offering developers and users a broader range of capabilities.

The platform features a WASM-based, customisable execution layer that powers decentralised serverless applications.

As a permissionless network, Blockless allows participants to contribute a variety of hardware resources, from Android devices to high-performance servers.

Developers can build on Blockless with unmatched scale, reliability, and security.

According to Li, Blockless is inspired by a "matchmaking service," akin to how Uber connects drivers to users, aiming to connect applications with users to meet their computational power needs via its network. Users are then rewarded by both the applications and Blockless.

nnApp ─ What Are They?

nnApps represent a new class of dApps that operate across any Layer 1 or Layer 2 blockchain network without being restricted by the limitations of any specific blockchain, such as latency, cost, and smart contract capabilities.

They harness a novel modular application architecture developed by Blockless to enhance security and performance.

A key component of this architecture is the dynamic consensus mechanism, which enables applications to choose the most efficient consensus and verification algorithms for each workload—a capability that was previously unattainable.

Another integral part of Blockless' modular application architecture is the automated node orchestration, which selects the most suitable nodes for each workload at random to execute specific tasks.

How do nnApps compare to the current paradigm of dApps, and how do they relate to Blockless' recent emphasis on appchains and rollapps?

The distinctions become apparent in the table below, with a focus on what truly matters: security, network performance, and the diversity of network operators.

What sets nnApps apart from traditional dApps and enables the aforementioned advantages is their capacity to process an application's functions on a per-workload basis.

This granular approach allows for a more tailored and efficient execution of tasks, unlocking new possibilities for dApps.

Blockless ─ Made Up of People Building Web3's Future

Blockless was co-founded in 2022, with its core team based in Palo Alto, California.

The team believes that Web3 should empower users by giving them more control over the internet.

To this end, they have developed the first compute network powered by everyday devices.

This innovative approach allows users to contribute compute resources to the websites, protocols, and applications they use, simply through their regular interactions.

Butian Li, CEO & Co-Founder

Li, Co-Founder and CEO of Blockless, has a diverse professional background, including a tenure at Deloitte.

She holds a degree from the University of California and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Her socials: X and LinkedIn

Derek Anderson, CTO & Founder

Anderson, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Blockless, previously served as the Head of Engineering at Akash Network.

He is a graduate of Mount Mattie University.

His socials: X and LinkedIn

Michael Chen, Co-Founder

Chen is a co-founder of Blockless.

Prior to this, he spent approximately three years as a project analyst at Binance Research.

He holds a degree from New York University in the United States.

His socials: LinkedIn

Blockless' Socials

Website

X

Discord

Telegram

LinkedIn

Blockless Aims to Pioneer the Modular Application Paradigm in Web3

Blockchains are predominantly specialised and are not designed to manage the current levels of engagement seen in Web2 systems.

The role of hybrid applications is becoming increasingly vital for the future expansion and adoption of Web3.

For Web3 to genuinely surpass the highly centralised nature and closed networks of its predecessor, the industry requires hybrid applications that leverage Layer 1 blockchains for consensus and data storage, while executing specific business logic in uniquely optimized, decentralised environments.

Blockless is poised to expedite the development of hybrid applications that challenge the service boundaries of Web3.

Li stated that Blockless intends to launch its mainnet and native token, named BLESS, in the third quarter of this year.

Furthermore, Blockless is utilising the Cosmos SDK to construct its native network and native token, Li elaborated.

Coinlive believes that Blockless is forging a new path in decentralised computing.

As the first community compute network to harness everyday devices for computational power, Blockless is transforming compute into a shared global resource.

By reducing barriers to participation and fostering a more inclusive ecosystem, Blockless is establishing a new benchmark for decentralised computing.