High Performance Blockchain (HPB) Launches Mainnet

High Performance Blockchain (HPB), a hardware-oriented blockchain platform, launched its platform to the mainnet on Monday, September 24, 2018. This follows months of preparatory work that included a wallet launch, exchange listings, partnerships, and closed testing.

The HPB project distinguishes itself from other projects by merging hardware and software solutions. The former is a customized piece of hardware called the Blockchain Offload Engine (BOE), which the team expects will increase transaction throughput. The BOEs are chipsets comprised of different modules which serve a variety of purposes, and will primarily be responsible for accelerating transaction rates.

The project’s technical architecture is detailed well in their whitepaper.

This range of customizability and introduction of hardware is marketed as a solution to the entry barriers for both large corporations and small businesses, who might lack the resources to build blockchain solutions from the ground up.

The launch, originally intended for the end of August, was postponed because some nodes experienced compatibility issues in the closed mainnet and hiccups in the supply chain for the BOE chipsets. UI, security, and performance improvements remain a priority for the team.

The network’s consensus algorithm is called Proof-of-Performance, which measures the performance contributions of nodes. The voting mechanism is also being scrutinized closely and involves 3 different kinds of nodes: BOE, HP, and candidate. Each performs their own duty, but a vetting process is present for entities who wish to receive a BOE hardware unit and become a BOE node.

HPB Aims to Deliver High Performance for Diverse Use Cases

Registered in Singapore and launched in 2017, the HPB project was founded by Wang Xiaoming. The team members, whose backgrounds include experience working at Huawei, IBM, Alibaba, McKinsey, and Deloitte, are building the project with the vision of employing hardware to increase performance, as well as smart contracts, programmable in several mainstream languages, to help developers transition smoothly into the blockchain era.

The team believes that the potential applications for the platform are endless, with use cases in IoT, supply chains, insurance, payments, and gaming. The language-agnostic design and high transaction rates of the program may help them in this regard.

HPB is currently priced at $0.78, and has sustained this level for the past few months. Its all-time high was roughly $13, back in January 2018. The total circulating supply is in the region of 37 million and 24-hour trading volumes stand at just under $4 million. Popular exchanges for the HPB token are OKEx, Bit-Z, and Bibox.

The team’s current agenda is to offer Blockchain-as-a-Service solutions, which is expected in Q4 2018, with an eye towards developing a global ecosystem in the first half of 2019. It was a project we deemed worth monitoring, and now the network’s performance in the upcoming months will tell us if the theory can support the results. Particularly interesting is the use of hardware units.

With the mainnet launched, HPB can provide us with experimental results in this niche of projects using hardware.

Related: 11 Blockchain Projects Geared for Enterprises