September 2024 – We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of Phase-1 Validations for Dolos, marking a significant step forward in the development of a Rust-based Cardano node. This project, funded by Project Catalyst on Fund 10, pushes the Cardano ecosystem toward greater node diversity and resilience by enhancing Dolos, a minimalistic data node designed for blockchain interaction.
Background:
Dolos project was initiated to create a lightweight node that serves essential data functions for Cardano, such as tracking the blockchain, accessing the UTxO state, and providing data to client applications. Unlike a full node, Dolos is tailored for efficiency and data handling, making it a perfect fit for decentralized applications (dApps) and infrastructure that prioritize fast, reliable data access.
Phase-1 Validation on the Cardano blockchain refers to the crucial set of transaction validation rules required before a transaction can be added to the ledger, excluding the execution of Plutus scripts (which happens in Phase-2 Validation). This validation process ensures the integrity of transactions and includes checks such as:
- Compliance with transaction structure and size limits.
- Validation of UTxO existence and integrity.
- Correctness of fees and collateral.
- Input-output balance.
- Witness verification, including signatures and native script execution.
Successfully implementing Phase-1 Validations brings Dolos significantly closer to its goal of becoming a key part of the Cardano node ecosystem, offering a lightweight, Rust-based alternative.
Key Achievements:
During the project, Dolos team achieved several important milestones:
- Conducted Phase-1 validation across the full history of the Cardano blockchain, including both mainnet and testnets (preview and preprod), testing millions of transactions.
- Enhanced the developer experience by releasing improved documentation, a streamlined bootstrapping process using Mithril snapshots, and configurable log outputs.
- Optimized resource consumption, ensuring that Dolos remains efficient by focusing only on necessary data-serving tasks and minimizing resource-heavy functions such as block production and consensus.
- Successfully integrated Dolos with existing middleware, such as Kupo, Oura, and Adder, expanding flexibility for infrastructure configuration.
- Integrated Dolos into Demeter, providing fast and accessible hosting for the latest versions of Dolos through this platform-as-a-service solution.
Impact on the Cardano Ecosystem:
This project is a critical piece in the effort to bring node diversity to the Cardano network. A diverse node ecosystem helps safeguard the blockchain by reducing dependence on a single node implementation, improving resilience against vulnerabilities, and fostering innovation through independent solutions. A Rust-based node like Dolos provides an alternative that taps into the growing community of Rust developers, lowering the entry barrier and encouraging new contributions to the Cardano ecosystem.
Collaborations and Ecosystem Growth:
Dolos is already being utilized by major ecosystem players such as SundaeSwap, dcSpark, Emurgo, and IOG, demonstrating its wide adoption and importance. The next development phases will align with the efforts of the Pragma Amaru initiative, which aims to build a full Rust-based Cardano node. While Amaru focuses on full node functionality, Dolos will continue its evolution as a lightweight, efficient backend for dApps and infrastructure.
Conclusion:
The completion of Phase-1 Validations in Dolos represents a major step toward a more resilient and diverse Cardano node ecosystem. We are excited about the future of Dolos and the potential it brings to the wider blockchain community.
About Project Catalyst:
Project Catalyst is a decentralized innovation fund supporting projects that drive growth and development within the Cardano ecosystem.
About TxPipe:
TxPipe is committed to advancing blockchain infrastructure through open-source innovation, contributing to the development of critical tools for the Cardano ecosystem, including Dolos and other key projects. For further information, visit txpipe.io or explore the project at https://github.com/txpipe
