Waves is a blockchain which envisioned the objective of enabling its users to create and launch their very own crypto tokens without having the extensive knowledge of smart contract programming. This is achieved by creating and managing tokens via scripts.

The key idea is that developing tokens and the apps that govern them should be made easy and the process of doing so shouldn’t be any different from the way current web apps are launched nowadays.

Waves Explained

Waves’ blockchain has two different node types in which its software can be run:

1. Full nodes: which keep the complete transaction history

2. Lightweight nodes: which depend on their full counterparts for transaction confirmation and other network interactions

The Leased Proof-of-Stake (LPoS)

Waves operates on LPoS, or Leased Proof-of-Stake, a variation of the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

The Leased Proof-of-Stake builds on conventional Proof-of-Stake models by giving users the option to lease their balance to full nodes. In turn, when a specific full node is chosen as the producer of the next block, part of its compensation goes to whoever leased tokens to it.

Waves-NG

Waves-NG is the protocol that choses which node is entitled to produce the next block. The original idea was proposed and rejected for BTC.

It works by breaking the blockchain into two types of blocks, the Key Blocks and the Micro Blocks. The key blocks originate by means of a random proof-of-stake miner and then, a public key is used in said block by other nodes, resulting in the creation of several microblocks.

Smart Assets

Smart Assets are tokens with an attached script. These types of tokens can be attributed with several different functionalities. The tokens and transfers are treated as attachments which are added to transactions which, in turn, are introduced through extensions or plug-ins installed on top of the blockchain.

Toward this goal, programs and applications run as attachments to these transactions, and new assets are given a unique identifier. Scripts can only be attached at the creation of the asset.

These assets are designed to trade within the Waves ecosystem, which includes its own built-in decentralized exchange (Waves.Exchange), made to facilitate trade between tokens created on the Waves blockchain with other WAVES tokens.

In 2018, the Waves team added smart contract functionality to the Waves MainNet, enabling third-parties to build decentralized applications (dapps). Further, in 2019, the team behind the platform began to market Waves Enterprise a version of the network designed for institutions.

The History Behind WAVES

Its blockchain was founded by Sasha Ivanov in 2016 as he established the for profit company Waves Platform AG in Moscow. The Waves initial coin offering (ICO) for its crypto raised an estimated $22 million USD.