Cryptocurrencies have continued to evolve and find more application since the launching of Bitcoin in 2009. Exciting projects spring up everyday with promises of enhanced service delivery, speed and efficient resource distribution using blockchain technology. Current trends suggest a massive transition from centralized systems to decentralized solutions powered by cryptocurrencies. Blockchain technology enhances peer-to-peer transactions in a secure environment in addition to being a reliable store of value. The potential for growth and success of blockchain instruments and solutions seem endless. However, there are roadblocks that have limited further progress in the crypto sphere. These critical challenges must be addressed to sustain any lasting projects or solutions based on cryptocurrencies.

Statement of the Problem

There are three major problems that all cryptocurrencies face and are yet to find an efficient solution to counter them. The problems are:

1. Privacy
2. Scalability
3. Size

Take a brief look at each of these problems.

1. Privacy: This is the biggest issue with cryptocurrencies. The blockchain is a public database of all transactions done by crypto users. Anyone can have access to these blocks of financial records. It is an open ledger. Simply download it and you can trace the identity of the transacting party or parties and the trade volume. Practically, nothing and no one is anonymous on the blockchain, so there is zero privacy.

2. Scalability: There is a limit on the amount of transactions bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies can process. Each block or group of records has limited size and frequency. It simply means that if there are more transactions than allowed, the system can not exceed its limit. It results in a queue and the overall transaction takes longer than necessary. So all cryptocurrencies struggle with scalability. They do not grow with increasing input and are thus inherently slow.

3. Size: Blockchain technology is bulky and this feeds the scalability issue. All transactions are stored on the public database even though not all of the blocks are useful. Some blocks are destroyed by the next transaction and thus do not affect the final output. Because every transaction is stored, blockchain technology is huge and speed is affected.

The Solution - Beam

Beam is a decentralized cryptocurrency that prioritizes user anonymity and enhances scalability by leaving out intermediate transactions that have no direct effect on the output. This also reduces the bulky size of blockchain transactions, making them more portable. Beam achieves speed, scalability and privacy using an improved version of the Mimblewimble protocol, ensuring that the entire blockchain can grow to accommodate mass adoption of cryptocurrency. Beam will be designed to facilitate a wide range of transactions such as escrow transactions, time-locked transactions and atomic swapping. Unlike today's blockchains that lack privacy and prone to price fluctuations, Beam will be a reliable store-of-value coin that enhances confidentiality and scalability.

Beam solves major issues facing all cryptocurrencies (using Mimblewimble)

Challenge 1: Privacy: There is virtually zero privacy with all cryptocurrencies. Users log and transaction data are stored on the blockchain - an open ledger accessible by anyone. This discourages mass adoption of cryptocurrencie since organizations and individuals that prioritize anonymity find it difficult to maintain their privacy.

The Beam Solution: Beam is based on the Mimblewimble protocol which defines multiple blocks of transaction as a single large block. This is achieved by combining or merging all outputs within a single block and across all blocks between the initial input and the final output of a transaction. To understand this better, it is best to explain the type of commitment scheme used by Mimblewimble.

Mimblewimble is based on the UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) system which is characterized by linear inputs and outputs. The output of a transaction block forms the input of the next block in a linear sequence. For example, the following is a typical Bitcoin transaction in a UTXO sytem:

X sends 20BTC to Y, Y then sends 10 BTC Z, Z also sends 5BTC to A.

The above is a typical UTXO system. However, Mimblewimble extends the UTXO system to become more efficient. In Mimblewimble, the intermediate outputs ( X to Y, Y to Z) should not be saved. In the above example, Mimblewimble will save (X sends 5BTC to A). It cuts through those intermediate outputs that have no direct effect on the final output. Also when the output of a block is sent to another block, the new block uses the output as its input and creates a blinding element before sending it as output to a new block. The value of any transaction is known only between two transacting parties (from block X to Y).

From the above explanation, Mimblewimble achieves privacy by saving the final output of a transaction instead of the entire transaction history. This method can be applied to the whole system since it is composed of blocks of transactions, each with its input and output. The entire system can be considered one large block from the initial input to the final output.
Applying this to a real world transaction, the identity of the user who initiated the transaction is hidden. Also details of the transaction remains hidden and can only be accessed by any other user that the transaction initiator gives the blinding elements. In this way, Beam uses Mimblewimble to achieve total anonymity.

Challenges 2 & 3: Scalability and blockchain size: Each blockchain technology has a limited amount of transactions it can process. Bitcoin can process between 3-7 transactions per second. This number pales in significance when compared to centralized payment processing gateways. For example, Visa handles up to 24,000 transactions per second. So generally, blockchain transactions are too slow when compared with the traditional system it aims to replace. Second, the size of current blockchain technology is too large because every bit of all transactions are permanently stored on the blockchain. Each new input increases the size of an already jumbo-sized blockchain. The large block size also reduces scalability.

The Beam Solution: Beam achieves the best scalability rate using the Mimblewimble protocol. As described above, Mimblewimble merges intermediate outputs that do not have a direct effect over the final transaction output. The cut-through happens in each single block and across all blocks. As a result, the Beam blockchain size is relatively smaller compared to other blockchains. More important, this compact blockchain size enables Beam to achieve superior scalability compared to other blockcahin solutions. Transaction processing speed is increased and delayed transactions are significantly reduced.

A typical Transaction using Beam

The entire transaction on Beam happens in a confidential environment, giving priority to user privacy and system scalability.

A transaction involving user A and user B happens this way:

1. Each user create their wallets: Each user participating in a transaction create their wallets. These wallets represents new nodes connected to the system and signed by the participants using Schnorr protocol.

2. initiating a transaction: When a user (Say User A) sends a transaction to (User B), a transaction block is created and executed using the Pedersen Commitments. The transaction block contains fees and the difference between blinding factors of the transacting parties. To ensure that the transaction is a positive value, a non interactive zero knowledge
range proof is included. The system contains a way to verify transactions values confidencially because:

allowing the user to create transactions with negative value would result in ability to arbitrarily create new coins which should be prohibited by the system.

3. Transaction verification: To validate a new transaction which is the current state, the header of the previous block is stored. This header contains the proof of validity of the most recent transaction and proof of work to properly indicate the correct header chain.

4. Mining: Once the validation is succesfull, the transaction is scheduled for mining. The miners pick a transaction from the mining pool per minute. Each mined transaction is validated again by the node and distributed to the system.

5. Mined transactions transferred to receiver: After re-validation by the node, the block extends the entire blockchain and creates the current state which a new transaction will link up to once connected to the node.

The graphics below illustrates the entire process:

Why Beam is an efficient blockchain solution

Beam has several enhanced features that will distinguish it from current blockchain solutions with scalability and anonymity as top priority. Consider the following:

1. Anonymity: Everything on the Beam blockchain happens under the hood. Users are wholly responsible for the amount of personal data they leave out on the system. They also determine who should have access to such private data.

2. Versatility: Beam will facilitate various transaction types in addition to being a store of value and means of exchange. Users will be able to process atomic swapping and time-locked transactions. Many payment processors today use escrow. Beam will also allow transactions backed by escrow to attract mass attention.

3. Scalability: Consider how many transactions Visa can process - up to 24,000 transactions per second. Blockchain technology in general is a far cry from that. Beam leads a revolution in blockchain scalability using the Mimblewimble protocol to merge intermediate outputs in a block and across blocks of transaction. This makes Beam blockchain size compact and also increasing speed in the process.

4. Sustainability: Beam boasts a team of professional programmers who developed the platform from scratch using C++. Beam also makes its code open sourced and the platform is powered by the community. A large incentive (up to 20%) of mining fees is reserved to sustain the development and expansion of the plaform.

5. Usability: Beam will be launched with a user interface wallet application. Various users should be able to download a version for their device whether it is Mac, Windows or Linux. Wallet features will include earnings insight and other financial management tools.

6. Compatibility:

An industry-proven Equihash algorithm was selected to ensure broad adoption by existing GPU miners. BEAM comes with an extensive set of tools for running and managing mining nodes.

Some industries that can benefit from Beam

There is no denying the fact that blockchain technology is already disrupting major industries and affecting lives positively. As investors and industry-leaders see the superior benefits delivered by this technology, affected industries are forced to embrace it or be replaced.
Though blockchain technology has seen major breakthroughs, some industries still find it difficult to adopt it because of its open nature. However, with the level of anonymity and privacy afforded by Beam, we take a look at how the following industries can benefit:

1. Healthcare Industry: There is a global increase in the number of patients that seek medical care. This increase would make it difficult for healthcare providers to process and store patient records. Also, transfer of patient records from one facility to another has been a major worry for the healthcare industry as technologies differ from place to place. Blockchain technology would have been a better option, but medical records need top privacy.

Healthcare providers can utilize Beam to store medical records confidentially, providing the privacy badly lacking in other blockchains. Since Beam is a decentralized network, it will also facilitate the seamless transfer and sharing of medical records between healthcare providers while protecting patient's privacy.

2. HR and Payroll: Managing human resource and staff payment has been done using traditional systems because of the sensitive nature of the job. HR goes through mountain of documents to verify the qualifications of job candidates. Also, sending payment to oversees employees is expensive and slow most times. However, blockchain technology can offer better services if not for privacy concerns.

Beam can be used to create a secure and confidential database of employee profiles. This will give HR easy access to authenticated documents for job screening. Also, Payroll can use Beam to pay staff securely and instantly no matter their location, all the while maintaining the privacy required for these transactions.

3. Accounting: Blockchain technology is majorly accounting - keeping records of financial transactions and transacting parties. The accounting industry spend lots of money in creating, maintaining and reconciling ledgers. Also, transaction-level accounting is one of the most difficult, especially where there are millions of transactions to work on. Blockchain can offer better solutions for accounting if there is some privacy mechanism.

Beam can enhance the job of accounting by creating a secure and confidential ledger for financial record-keeping. It can hide the identity of individuals and firms involved in the financial transaction. Beam can also become a decentralized private ledger for accounting, helping accounting firms and personnel to share, collaborate and have access to accounting tools and documents anywhere.

4. Insurance: The insurance industry makes lots of record-keeping. Client records, identification and verification of claims, and dealing with lots of historical data. Blockchain technology would be a better alternative except that everything is wide open.

Beam can help insurers store, process and transfer records in a secure manner, while keeping all transactions under the hood. Insurers can use Beam to reduce the time it takes to verify claims, manage experiences and prevent fraud. The decentralized nature of Beam makes it suitable for sharing records and facilitating electronic payments between clients and insurers.

5. Banking: The benefits of blockchain technology to banks are well-documented. If bankers embrace blockchain technology, it will result in faster transfers and deposits, secured transactions, better handling of electronic banking, and reduced operational costs. But one reason why the banking industriy shy away from blockchain is the same privacy concerns. Imagine logging in one day to see how much your next-door neighbor withdrew from his bank account! That is big-time risk!

Beam can enhance banking transactions by keeping it away from the public's eye. Bankers and customers on the Beam network will be rest-assured that confidentiality of transactions is a top priority. This will give them trust to enjoy the benefits of decentralized banking.

Use cases

(1)
Andrew is the head of Payroll in TikandTak Ltd., an oil exploration company based in the UK. On behalf of the company, he pays staff salaries on the 25th of each month. Some staff in remote locations have complained of delayed payments. Additionally, the Company is worried about the high processing fees charged by payment gateways Andrew use in paying overseas staff. Andrew assured the company that they are using the best payment processor but that he will research to see if there are better options.

Andrew went online to look for alternatives. He knows about blockchain payments, but is wary about privacy of the staff. While online, he came across Beam- a blockchain payment solution that prioritizes privacy. After much investigation, Andrew recommended Beam and it was accepted. Now the company is happy to pay overseas staff promptly without incurring high overhead charges.

(1)
Jane is a IT manager of Bestcare Memorial Hospital. Because of the huge volume of patient records in the hospital, Jane was tasked with working to increase the capacity of hospital servers. while researching on the best server technology for the hospital, Jane saw Beam, a blockchain-based platform that can keep and manage patient records confidentially. After pouring through Beam website and studying reviews, Jane suggested that the hospital try Beam. They did and are happy to overcome data storage issues while enjoying the benefits of a decentralized patient record management.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology is still disrupting major industries, but until a lasting solution is found for scalability and privacy issues, progress could be delayed and eventually stop. However,Beam will provide a leading solution to these challenges.

Beam will facilitate financial transactions and data storage in an anonymous manner. It will give users full control of their privacy, allowing them to manage how much personal data is available to the public. It will also reduce the scalability issue all blockchains face using the genius Mimblewimble protocol.

Beam will power the mass adoption of blockchain technology. More important, it will force centralized solutions to adopt cryptocurrency or be replaced.

Roadmap

The Leadership Team

The Engineering Team

The Advisors

The investors

Beam is actually beating competition - the chart below confirms it.

Watch this presentation by Alexander Zaidelson Beam CEO: