What is Edgeware?

Edgeware is a WebAssembly (WASM) smart contract platform in the Polkadot ecosystem, focused on active on-chain governance and treasury management. Other than Kusama, it’s one the first potential parachain candidates for Polkadot, aiming to launch before the Polkadot network is live. Edgeware participants can vote on proposals to improve the network through a set of governance modules that allow rapid testing of different decision-making processes: essentially participants can vote, delegate, and fund each other to upgrade the network.

The initial Edgeware token distribution occurred via a lockdrop: a modified airdrop where participants timelocked ETH to receive EDG. Edgeware, like other Proof-of-Stake networks, requires validator participation in the network to ensure transactions are well-formed and the network is secure. Validators earn block reward and transaction fees for their network participation. Tokens can be used to influence the network’s governance.

In the Edgeware protocol, validators can be slashed due to downtime or double-signing. If your EDG are delegated to a validator that gets slashed, you run the risk of losing a percentage of your delegated tokens. (Learn how the Bison Trails platform reduces the risk of slashing on participatory blockchain networks.)

Perspective: Edgeware is Poised to Lead On-Chain Governance Innovation

There are several protocols that utilize variations of on-chain governance mechanisms, such as Cosmos and Tezos. However existing protocols are largely not focused on applying governance mechanisms to governance itself. Our perspective: Edgeware is well-positioned to lead innovation in this space as the wide token distribution, with overwhelmingly anonymous token holders, will likely reveal how governance design choices affects active participation and voter turnout.

On-chain governance is a hotly contested feature. While governance mechanisms in early blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum are intentionally unspecified, newer protocols tend to favor explicit on-chain governance.

Many developers on parachains and threads in Polkadot will be interested in on-chain governance as it applies to their specific needs, but they may not necessarily focus on addressing the governance ecosystem more holistically. Edgeware is well-positioned to serve as a complementary toolkit to empower the Polkadot ecosystem, leveraging existing and working governance processes, comprehensively.

Bison Trails: Pioneering Blockchain Infrastructure™

Bison Trails is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service company, based in New York City, specifically focused on blockchain participation. We’ve built a platform for anyone who wants to participate in new chains effortlessly (e.g. by running Cosmos Validators, Tezos Bakers, and Libra Validators, etc.)—without having to invest time and resources into developing any of the engineering, protocol, dev ops, or security competencies in-house. Our goal is for the entire blockchain ecosystem to flourish by providing robust infrastructure for the pioneers of tomorrow.

We’re uniquely positioned to provide premier, enterprise-grade node infrastructure for Edgeware validators:

• We are intimately familiar with the Polkadot ecosystem and are ready to help our customers transition when Edgeware becomes a parachain.
• Our flexible workflow design allows customers to maintain their desired level of control without trading off security or user experience.
• We run validators across all major Substrate-based chains, cross-leveraging optimizations and security practices, and test all software, infrastructure, and protocol upgrades on ourselves before pushing to our customers.
• We are the premier multi-cloud, multi-region infrastructure provider specializing in permissionless participatory networks.

“Bison Trails provides an invaluable service to protocol teams like Edgeware; from working with us in the early days of the testnet to actively participating in governance. By helping token holders run their own validators, they’ll continue to help our network grow securely and remain decentralized. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with the team as we launch the network!” Dillon Chen, CEO and Co-Founder of Commonwealth Labs, core developer of Edgeware

Interested in launching an Edgeware node?

Our team of protocol experts is ready to answer your questions. Visit https://bisontrails.co/edgeware or contact us to learn more about our enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure platform, and our work to support Edgeware’s launch.

This document is for informational purposes only. Please do not construe any such information or other material contained in this document as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.