Glossary

The following provides an overview of important terminology used within the Venom universe.

In the Venom ecosystem, every account is a smart contract. Accounts can be used as unique identifiers for users holding cryptocurrencies and NFTs, transacting value, and executing smart contracts. Accounts can also be used as smart contracts with their own code. Externally-owned accounts (i.e. accounts owned via private keys) do not exist in the Venom network. This concept is known as Account Abstraction which opens up interesting opportunities for flexible authentication beyond private keys.   

The address of an account is the unique identifier for the contract storage and is also the entry point for incoming messages. Account addresses in the Venom network consist of two parts, the workchain identifier and the hash of the initial data.

Workchain Identifier

0 – workchain_id. The identifier of the workchain is an unsigned 32-bit integer.

Initial Data Hash

0000...0000 – account_id. 256-bit address (defined by the hash of the contract code and initial data).

Wallet accounts allow users to store, send, receive, and stake $VENOM tokens as well as interact with smart contracts in the network. A wallet account is needed to send $VENOM tokens.

The address of a wallet account can be calculated based on its type (default or multisig) and its public key. This is also possible for wallet accounts that have not yet been deployed. Consequently, users can receive tokens to their wallet account before it is deployed. 

The Venom blockchain consists of blocks of data that are ordered in a sequential order, like on a chain. New blocks are continuously added to the blockchain and cannot be edited or changed once committed.

A block is a group of information that can include data about transactions in the network, contract calls, outbound messages, as well as state updates.

Block explorers are web applications that can be used to explore the transactions, messages, wallets, smart contracts, and blocks of a blockchain. Venom's block explorer can be found here: Venomscan.

Blockchain ecosystems are often technologically different (heterogeneous), meaning that they are not readily interoperable with each other. For this reason, bridges are being built to connect two separate blockchains with each other. 

Bridges can be used to transfer data and assets from one blockchain to another. Presently, Venom is connected to Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Fantom via bridges. 

Consensus describes a fault-tolerant mechanism that is used so that network participants can agree on the state of a blockchain. Venom utilizes a consensus model that combines Proof-of-Stake consensus with Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) algorithms.

Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) describes the resiliency of a fault-tolerant system against attacks by malicious parties.

Proof of stake (PoS) is a consensus protocol utilized in blockchains. PoS is used to decide which network participant can validate new transaction blocks and earn a share of the generated transaction fees for doing so.

A constructor message is needed to establish an account or smart contract. This is done by sending a message (with the smart contract’s initial code and data) to its address. 

Validators are incentivized to secure and maintain the Venom network by receiving a share of the generated transaction fees. 

dApps are decentralized applications. The web interface of a dApp typically does not interact with centralized APIs but with smart contracts deployed on a blockchain instead. End users can interact with dApps by connecting their crypto wallet with the application. 

All messages originating from off-chain (outside the Venom network, not generated by a smart contract hosted on Venom) are considered external messages. 

Gas fees and transaction fees are used in the Venom network to compensate validators and to cover the storage costs of saving a message on the blockchain. For this reason, a given amount of $VENOM tokens needs to be attached to each message sent in the network so that it can be processed.

Venom performs cryptographic operations in a secure and efficient way by utilizing the SHA256 hashing algorithm.

A transaction is created when a user or smart contract executes a message. The transaction includes information about the message’s sender, the transaction time, messages (both incoming and outgoing), and its state impact. 

A blockchain system is homogeneous when all chains are of the same type and follow the same rules (e.g. transaction formats, etc.). 

A blockchain system is heterogenous when different blockchains are of a different type and/or follow different rules.

A giver smart contract is used in Locklift and ensures contracts are provided with $VENOM tokens during their development and testing phases. 

The default giver is deployed on the following address in the local node:

0:ece57bcc6c530283becbbd8a3b24d3c5987cdddc3c8b7b33be6e4a6312490415

The public and private keys of an account are a large set of numbers used for encrypting and decrypting wallets as well as signing and verifying messages.

The term interoperability describes the ability of a blockchain to transfer data and value with other blockchains.

All messages originating from inside the Venom network are considered internal messages. This is the case when one contract living on the Venom blockchain sends a message to another one. 

Layer-0 blockchains provide the infrastructure upon which Layer-1 blockchains can be built. They provide a foundational layer to blockchain networks and applications, allowing the network to benefit from scalability and interoperability.

Mainnet is an abbreviation for “main network” and typically refers to a blockchain’s primary public network. Usually, blockchains are developed while being in testnet and are later launched on mainnet.

A multi-blockchain ecosystem describes a network that utilizes an architecture with multiple blockchains simultaneously. Venom is a multi-blockchain network and has a Masterchain as well as Workchains and Shardchains. To learn more, see Architecture.

The Masterchain is the backbone of the Venom blockchain. It is the network's base layer (i.e. the Layer-0 chain) that facilitates the coordination and communication among Workchains, Shardchains, and accounts (smart contracts).

​Venom's Workchains are Layer-1 blockchains that are secured by the Masterchain and can serve various purposes. Workchains are designed to be capable of supporting a variety of use cases and applications ranging from finance-based payment markets, DeFi dApps, NFTs, CBDC stablecoins, Gaming apps, as well as Metaverse ecosystems.

Venom's Shardchains are separate processing units that have their own private memory space in which computations can be executed.

Sharding is a scalability solution for decentralized networks allowing the parallel processing of transactions. This is made possible because each shard is organized by its own validator set, allowing validators to simultaneously validate multiple transactions.

Venom's Shardchains are smaller pieces of a blockchain that are solely responsible for a subset of smart contracts based on a defined range. 

Venom's Basechain is an example of a Workchain. The Basechain is a Layer-1 Workchain designed to host dApps (decentralized applications) and to be used by developers, builders, and users.

The Venom network is maintained by validators and delegators. The network maintainers help to maintain the availability, performance, and security of the Venom blockchain and are therefore important ecosystem participants.

The Venom network is maintained by validators and delegators. The network maintainers help to maintain the availability, performance, and security of the Venom blockchain and are therefore important ecosystem participants.

Validators are participants of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains. They are responsible for maintaining the blockchain's security and form validating its transactions. Validators have a vested interest in the blockchain they are maintaining by stacking their tokens which are often subject to slashing in case of malicious behavior.

Delegators play a critical role in decentralizing the Venom network. Token delegators stake their $VENOM tokens to the network validators of their choice and in doing so, contribute towards maintaining the security of the network.

Network participants can bond their tokens to nominate a validator of their choice to participate in Venom’s consensus protocol and to commit blocks.

The ability of a blockchain to scale based on demand. Present blockchain solutions are unable to scale linearly as demand and workload increase. This drawback limits real-world adoption of blockchain technology and increases transaction costs significantly. 

A shard is a partition of a blockchain. It holds information on a subset of accounts (smart contracts) that are running on the main blockchain.

Sharding is a scalability solution for decentralized networks allowing the parallel processing of transactions. This is made possible because each shard is organized by its own validator set, allowing validators to simultaneously validate multiple transactions.

See Shardchain.

If the number of transactions on a Shardchain causes it to become overloaded, a split event is triggered. The overloaded Shardchain is then divided into two shardchains.

Sibling Shardchains are continuously monitored for their block sizes. In the event that the sum does not exceed 60% of the maximal block size for 100 seconds, a block with a "want merge" flag is produced by validators. The flag tells validators assigned to the Shardchains to merge into one Shardchain.

The seed phrase of a wallet is a sequence of random words. It acts as the key to the funds of a cryptocurrency wallet.  

A smart contract is executable code that performs state changes within the blockchain. 

Network participants can deploy a staking pool (via smart contract code) which enables other users to stake their tokens. Doing so nominates the pool owner for the role of becoming a network validator. In return, delegators who stake their tokens receive a share of the validator’s rewards.

Venom is a multi-blockchain network that forms the basis for scalable Web3 applications in the DeFi and Global Payments markets. The Venom blockchain provides a state-of-the-art transactional scalability solution as well as economic scalability.

Venom’s virtual machine executes smart contract logic on the blockchain. Similar to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Venom utilizes a Turing complete virtual machine for the execution of instructions. The TVM of the Venom network executes smart contracts in the protocol’s masterchain and its workchains. Venom’s workchains may use other virtual machines, for example the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Wallets are used in the cryptocurrency ecosystem to send/receive tokens and to interact with smart contracts. They can either be paper, software, or hardware wallets and are used for storing the owner’s public and private keys. The official wallet for the Venom blockchain can be found here: Venom Wallet. 

With the help of a wallet account, users can send, receive, store, and stake $VENOM tokens as well as interact with smart contracts within the network. Venom presently supports two wallet account types (default wallet and multisig wallet).

The default wallet is a wallet account (i.e. a specific type of smart contract) that can be used for transferring funds.

A multi-signature wallet provides increased security features because it can be controlled by multiple users. Whenever a transaction is initiated, it needs to be signed by a specified amount of parties before it can be executed. Organizations (such as DAOs) and other groups of individuals may wish to use multi-signature wallets to ensure a higher level of security and accountability.