Jun 5, 2022

Development of the Alpha Version of “SYNCHAIN”, the Blockchain That Solves NFT Issues

No.1 Solutions Inc. (Location: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Tetsuo Omorai; hereinafter referred to as “our Company”), a Web3 and blockchain development company, today announced that it has developed an alpha version of SYNCHAIN, a new standard blockchain that can solve existing NFT (Non-Funfible Token) issues.

Background of SYNCHAIN Development

As a tamper-resistant system, blockchain is widely used as the foundation for various digital payments and NFT marketplaces. However, it is still fraught with security issues.

Among the problems cited with blockchain are scalability issues, lack of quantum computer resistance, and inability to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. As a result, people are still suffering significant damage due to hacking and phishing scams.

As a solution to the existing problems, our Company has developed a new blockchain, SYNCHAIN. With the new security technology, we will promote the development of an infrastructure that can provide finance, information, and opportunities equally to all people, including developers and users. As a first step, we will solve the NFT issue, which is key among the recent Web3 trends.

Current NFT Challenges

The NFT market continues to expand year after year, and according to BNP Paribas’ research firm L’Atelier, transaction value in 2021 will swell to $17.6 billion, a threatening 21,000-fold increase over the previous year. Despite the rapid growth of the NFT market, the following unresolved issues remain for NFT in its current state.

1. Digital data cannot be possessed.

NFTs are tokens that are uniquely valuable, but in reality, they contain only an ID and a metadata URL. There is a risk that the value of NFTs may be lost if the NFT marketplace closes or the digital data is swapped out.

2. There is no guarantee of the uniqueness of the NFT.

As proof that the digital data of an NFT is not duplicated, the NFT issuer also needs to ensure that the data is unique.

3. Limitations of on-chain NFTs

On-chain NFTs, which upload the digital data itself to the blockchain, as has been happening in some areas recently, have high issuance costs and high operation and maintenance costs. Even if a chain with low current costs is used, it is difficult to permanently maintain the ever-increasing volume of data, and there is a risk that it will eventually fail.

4. Risk of hacking

OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, suffered a large-scale phishing scam on February 19, 2022, in which 254 NFTs worth 200 million yen in total were stolen. The attackers are believed to have taken advantage of the Wyvern Protocol, which OpenSea was attempting to modify, by sending un-filled contracts which they had the victims sign, and later filling in the setting the winning bid to zero.

On March 27, 2022, Sky Mavis, which operates the NFT game “Axie Infinity,” announced that the “Ronin Network” used in the game had been hacked by an external party, resulting in the unauthorized withdrawal of more than $600 million in USDC and ETH.

Although the NFT market is expanding, it is an undeniable fact that it has the aforementioned shortcomings and challenges.
We have developed a new technology as a result of our research in order to resolve these shortcomings and challenges.

SYNCHAIN Solves Existing NFT Challenges

The technology our Company has developed is a new blockchain, SYNCHAIN, which can solve the existing issues of blockchain. This blockchain has the following features.

1. Enabling the possession of digital data

In the past, digital data of NFTs were generally placed only on the server side and only proved the purchase history of NFTs, and were not “possessed” in the owner’s own device data space.

In contrast to the conventional system, SYNCHAIN defines NFT as numerical ID data plus digital content such as images and videos, and enables the content itself to be stored on the user’s browser. By actually storing the content data at hand, SYNCHAIN contributes to loss prevention and tamper resistance.

2. Proof of NFT’s uniqueness

SYNCHAIN issues digital data with creator information to prove who created the content. A blockchain watermark function will be implemented to include metadata describing the NFT status (company, creator, title, creation date, exhibitor, compensation margin, etc.) on the digital content as well.

In addition, by linking the NFT to the actual item that has been authenticated and distributed, it is possible to create and trade NFTs that have unique authenticity certificates.

3. Low-cost on-chain NFTs

Normal blockchain node server requirements demand high-spec servers. SYNCHAIN, on the other hand, allows blockchains to be built and operated on low-spec servers.

SYNCHAIN allows blockchain nodes to be configured by using distributed storage together in a secure and efficient manner, thereby reducing server costs and allowing blockchain applications to be developed at low cost. This makes it possible to sustainably manage and operate even on-chain NFTs with huge data volumes.

4. Adequate security measures to prevent hacking

Since it is said that blockchains can be breached by quantum computers, several quantum-resistant blockchains have already been developed.

Internationally, research on quantum computer countermeasures is considered to focus mainly on lattice cryptography, code cryptography, multivariate cryptography, and hash-based signature cryptography. Since these are to a large extent computationally dependent in their security, the possibility remains that they can be cracked by new computational algorithms or the performance of quantum computers.

SYNCHAIN’s security is based on quantum computer resistant technology that is distinctly different from the above technologies. In a nutshell, it is built on “”cryptography that cannot be broken even over an infinite period of time”” (information-theoretic security).

In addition, conventional cryptography involves the passing of public keys through various cryptographic schemes. SYNCHAIN’s communication method can prevent man-in-the-middle attacks by using cryptographic communication without key delivery.

SYNCHAIN also solves blockchain scalability issues

SYNCHAIN also addresses the issue of blockchain scalability. While existing blockchains are full-node, our SYNCHAIN uses a ledger system in which data is distributed and managed by file, enabling high-speed transaction processing without delays. Theoretically, it is possible to process transactions at 4,000 TPS.