About Connext
Connext's mission is to bring blockchain to the next billion users by enabling instant, low cost Ethereum transfers. They achieve that by using generalized state channels to establish peer-to-peer Payment Channels that allow users to batch many Ethereum transactions into one netted transfer by using signed off-blockchain commitments rather than direct on-blockchain transactions. This improves the scalability of transfers across the Ethereum ecosystem, and also creates one fast and seamless experience between wallets, browsers, and applications.MetaMask uses Connext to power their new InstaPay service, which allows free, gasless transactions between users. This is an experimental opt-in feature, and you can enable it from Settings > Experimental > Payment Channels / InstaPay > View Wallet. You can see a quick demo here:https://youtu.be/jCLmFiaD67sConnext also powers Provide Payments and the Payment Hubs on the Provide Platform.
A Symbiotic Relationship: Connext + Provide
During the first half of 2019, Provide worked closely with the Connext team to optimize their project for easy orchestration on the Provide Platform, helping them to better decentralize and scale as they grow. Additionally, the work to incorporate Connext into Provide Payments is honing the vision for the next generation of Connext.One area of future development required for Provide Payments is the implementation of Counterfactual contracts, a method of building state channel smart contracts that act as if they are on chain, but operate off-chain to finality far quicker than on-chain smart contract, without losing security.Generalized state channels effectively improve the overall performance of the mainnet, while further decentralizing transactions and isolating parties from broad hacks and improving privacy. However, it is critical to ensure these contracts are secure, and an independent 3rd party audit is highly recommended.
“Provide is a true partner, and they've taken an active role in building and securing the future of the Connext network. Over the past 9 months, Kyle and his team provided valuable input and won the trust of our team. As we got closer to releasing Connext v2, it became clear that Provide was a great choice for a security audit.” --Arjun Bhuptani
The security audit for Connext was published this week, alongside the general release of Connext v2 to the Ethereum mainnet.