What is Lisk

Let's start by talking about what Lisk is. Lisk is an open sourced blockchain platform that will enable developers to build decentralized blockchain-based applications in JavaScript. Breaking that statement down.

Open Source

We developers love open source. The reason why is simple, it allows an entire community of people to look through the code and spot vulnerabilities. It also means that anyone can contribute. I know more than one developer who has landed a job due to their contributions to open source projects but we can get into that in another post. Here is the public lisk code repository: https://github.com/LiskHQ/lisk.

Blockchain

If you're here I'm assuming you're at least familiar with blockchain technology but simply it's a digital ledger in which transactions are recorded chronologically and publicly.

Decentralized blockchain-based applications

Okay this is where it gets interesting. If you're familiar with Ethereum then you're probably familiar with the idea of a dApp, decentralized application. However they are implemented differently. Ethereum uses smart contracts and Lisk implements real side chains. A popular misconception is that Ethereum's tokens create side chains but this is false. The token related transactions are executed on the main Ethereum blockchain. Anyone who was paying attention to the network clog caused by CryptoKitties is familiar with this.

Disclaimer:
Now I'm not fudding Ethereum, I'm a hodler myself. It just happens to occupy a similar space in the crypto-verse and is much more well known, so I'll be drawing some comparisons to it. I do firmly believe both chains can co-exist.

The use of the sidechains in Lisk addresses some very real scaling problems that are present in Ethereum currently. Again Ethereum is addressing them as well via their Casper fork, https://blockonomi.com/ethereum-casper/.

A brief explanation about how the Lisk sidechain deals with scaling is. Users will only need to download the corresponding sidechain for a specific use case when using the relevant application. This greatly reduces the sync time for downloading unnecessary data and facilitates the efficient operation of the entire Lisk network. Also, the speed of the Lisk network promises to continue to accelerate over time, which ought to give it a special advantage.

Javascript

Now as a developer the most interesting piece of this for me is the Javascript portion. Why? Over the last decade the Javascript ecosystem has made huge advancements. This has a lot to do with Node.js but also web frontend technologies and frameworks have advanced. Great, what does that mean though? Simple. Developers know javascript.

If you're creating the next dApp platform and want to invite developers to create on your platform you'd want to give them a way to do so that is familiar to them. I make my living writing Javascript. Just do yourself a favor and google what programming should I learn or popular programming language. So the benefit is developers should be able to adopt and utilize the platform with a much lower learning curve than something like solidity, the Ethereum dApp language. I've looked and played a little with Solidity and while Solidity is very Javascript-esque, it's not JavaScript.

Lisk vs...

Let me start by reiterating that I do believe Lisk and other blockchains that occupy similar spaces in the crypto-verse can co-exist and even benefit each other. However I do believe there is some value in knowledge that can be obtained through comparing it to them. So without further ado.

Lisk vs Ethereum

We've already touched on most of this a few points to make are. Ethereum has first mover advantage. It's almost as well known as big daddy Bitcoin and there has already been successful use cases. It's the main ICO platform, although XLM is moving in and like I mentioned above there was the whole CryptoKitty escapade. There are also projects such as, Golem decentralized computing power, 1st blood a dApp for esports and the list goes on. So it's proven.

One of the other big differences is Ethereum is currently Proof of Work, again that'll be changing with the Casper Fork. Lisk uses delegated Proof of Stake. Using dPoS helps to mitigate the potential negative impacts of centralization. There's also the advantage of not wasting huge amounts of energy via mining to keep the blockchain executing.

Lisk uses sidechains.

What's the benefit? Lisk can avoid problems like the DAO hack that happened on the Ethereum network. Long story short, a loophole was exploited in the Ethereum blockchain that allowed some one to siphon off 50 million dollars worth of Ethereum during the DAO ICO funding. It's the entire reason Ethereum and Ethereum Classic exist. Here's an interesting article about it https://blockgeeks.com/guides/what-is-ethereum-classic/. With the Lisk side chains the same sort of attack would not affect the main Lisk network.

Lisk vs Neo

Neo is relatively new and is being boasted about as the Chinese version of Ethereum. There's a lot to like about Neo and again I've got a bag of Neo myself. One of the interesting things about Neo is that developers will be able to work in multiple languages for their dApps. Neo is much more similar to Ethereum than Lisk but it's another dApp platform worth discussing. Neo operates on smart contracts like Ethereum and consumes Gas to execute them.

Recently a Neo dApp competition by City of Zion concluded https://cityofzion.io/dapps/1.

There's not much to compare with Lisk vs Neo that would be different than Lisk vs Eth.

Lisk vs Stratis

The Stratis database structure is modeled on Bitcoin blockchain, making it rigid and inflexible when it comes to broad range of blockchain apps.

Lisk adds a blockchain layer in front of relational database, which is familiar to most of developers in the world today. Just about every developer I've worked with is familiar with SQL. Relational databases are the main datastore for most applications.

Stratis allows developers to store data onto its own Bitcoin-style blockchain. While it is secure to some extend, it scales as bad as in Bitcoin. In term of security, a Ethereum's DAO incident can happen in Stratis: a single database for all. No isolation. Bad code in bad apps can cause issues in mainchain, having bad impact to the whole ecosystem.

Lisk allows developers to store data onto their own database (sidechain), Lisk mainchain or other database (other sidechains) when possible, making scaling and security much easier and less costly.

Lisk vs The Rest

There are other comparisons to be made. Most notably with newer players Cardano, Ark and the list goes on. Most of these aim to solve the problems that currently exist in Ethereum, the biggest player in the space and time will tell which ones can do so most effectively.

The Team

So one of the interesting pieces to the Lisk team On June 8 2016, Lisk CEO Max Kordek announced the addition of Charles Hoskinson (ex-CEO of Ethereum) and Steven Nerayoff (ex-advisor for Ethereum) as Senior Advisors of Lisk, to facilitate Product Development. According to Kordek. Remember when I said Ethereum is almost as well known as Bitcoin? These two had a lot do with it and having them as active advisors to the Lisk team is a huge Boon.

Their development team has also been active and transparent even though they came up short and had to delay the release of their SDK. They've been adding to their team which is definitely a huge plus.

The FUD

Fear uncertainty and doubt. Now it's not all roses when considering investing in Lisk. As mentioned above there was a delay in the release of their SDK. Right after that was announced lisk had a pretty big dip in price. For me that was an opportunity to add to my bag, and boy am I glad I did. In order for Lisk to be taken seriously they will need to get the SDK out so developers can really start to work on their platform. Until then all we have are promises and that makes for risky investment.

Delegates. One of the biggest complaints I see in Lisk discussions is the current delegate system. It seems it's prone to some abuse through users voting multiple times forcing certain delegates to remain in the top of the voting pool. I'm not sure about the validity of the claims but it wouldn't be surprising to find out there's abuse in the crypto world.

Upcoming

For starters Lisk will be rebranding early 2018. With the rebranding will likely come a new marketing campaign to raise awareness of Lisk and I expect a price jump because of it.

While the SDK was delayed, it's on the roadmap for april of 2018 and that's when I expect to see some real movements in Lisk. I fully respect the team's decision to wait on releasing the SDK until they've had enough time to really develop and test it as opposed to releasing a crappy bug ridden rushed product and again it allowed me to grab some more at a discount.

Native mobile wallet. I can think of no better way to get your tech into the hands of the masses than enabling it for mobile devices.

There is also a decentralized exchange in the works (think binance).

Price

At the time of writing this Lisk is currently trading at $19.26 and a market cap of $2.2 billion. If developers adopt it when the SDK finally comes out the way I expect them to I can see this easily moving up to a top spot.

Where to buy

Lisk can be found at numerous exchanges. https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/lisk/#markets. I personally use binance. Here's my referral link https://www.binance.com/?ref=11267703 if you choose to signup. You'll have to buy your crypto from something like coinbase https://www.coinbase.com/join/59c6c3b1c68c7d0307f398ac first before sending it over to an exchange that trades Lisk.

If you're going to buy Crypto on coinbase remember to transfer it to GDax and then transfer it from GDax to your exchange of choice. GDax will cover your transfer fee for free!

Disclaimer

This is not financial advice. I'm not a financial advisor. Only invest what you can afford to lose. You're responsible for your own money.

Next up we'll talk RaiBlocks. Thanks for reading, don't forget to follow and upvote if you found this interesting or helpful. Cheers All, stay safe and have a happy New Year!