Hyundai’s Token Company Partners With CasperLabs to Build a PoS Blockchain
HDAC Technology, a blockchain company backed by automaker Hyundai, announced a partnership with blockchain startup CasperLabs to build and integrate a customized Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus protocol. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on June 28, a small initial step toward further cooperation.
HDAC, issuer of the Hyundai-DAC token, is reportedly looking to switch from its Proof-of-Work protocol to PoS. In the meantime, the company will implement CasperLabs Correct-By-Construction PoS consensus protocol, CBC-Casper.
The goal is to ensure scalability without compromising decentralization, something that Mrinal Manohar, CEO of ADAPtive Holdings Ltd., parent company of Casper Labs, alleges to already have accomplished.
“[These implementations] have always come with some sort of compromise and we think we don’t really make any compromises and I think that is what’s attractive to HDAC,” he said.
The three-year collaboration reportedly includes the organization of hackathons in USA and Korea and the potential listing of the HDAC token in US exchanges such as Bitrex, Kraken, and Binance.
Experimentation Phase
While the HDAC blockchain in production, the integrated CasperLabs blockchain doesn’t serve any specific purpose yet. As noted by Manohar, the use-cases would be focused mainly on production-related issues.
“Since HDAC come from the industry and has a use-case-centric world view, HDAC Technology identifies very solvable business problems across provenance, supply chain, and capacity utilization,” he said.
The first test of the blockchain is scheduled by the end of 2019, said an HDAC representative.
“We are working hard on developing a new core. Our testnet will be ready by the end of this year. We need a strong partner like CasperLabs to build a new core which should be one of the best in the world,” the representative said.
On the other hand, the development of the HDAC blockchain alongside the CBC-Casper PoS protocol will help to replace older PoW systems, said Manohar.
“Our motivation is to have efficient systems and Proof-of-Work is just not an efficient system,” he said.
The startup is currently working with Vlad Zamfir from the Ethereum Foundation to develop a fully decentralized PoS consensus protocol.
According to CasperLabs, the startup’s protocol will also be included in a forthcoming Ethereum’s hard fork Serenity which will mark the migration of Ethereum from a Proof of Work to a Proof of Stake consensus mechanism.