The Good Tech Companies - How Aurora is Making Blockchain Deployment as Simple as AWS

Starting point is 00:00:00 This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. How Aurora is making blockchain deployment as simple as AWS, by Ashan Pandey. In an exclusive Hacker Noon interview, Dr. Alex Shevchenko, a physicist turned blockchain innovator, unveils Aurora's groundbreaking approach to blockchain accessibility through the Aurora Cloud Console. Drawing from his experience developing Exonym at Bitfury, Dr. Shevchenko explains how Aurora is revolutionizing blockchain deployment with their virtual chain technology, effectively reducing the multi-million dollar barrier to entry down to zero. As blockchain adoption accelerates toward 2025, this conversation

Starting point is 00:00:40 reveals how Aurora's no-code solution could fundamentally transform the way we think about launching and managing blockchain networks. Ashan Pandey. Dr. Shevchenko, you've had a fascinating journey from physics and mathematics to blockchain, including developing Exonym at Bitfury and now revolutionizing blockchain accessibility with Aurora. What key insights from building one of the first enterprise Layer 1 platforms influenced your vision for Aurora Cloud Console's no-code approach? Alex Shevchenko. Blockchains are complex and often non-intuitive for the majority of engineers. The simpler and more accessible we make the onboarding process, the more widespread blockchain adoption will become.

Starting point is 00:01:20 This is why our focus at Aurora is on simplifying blockchain and making it more convenient. Ashant Pandey, the Aurora Cloud Console is being positioned as a zero-coding platform for custom blockchains. Can you walk us through how you've managed to simplify what's traditionally been a complex, technical process while still maintaining the robustness needed for production-ready chains? Alex Shevchenko. The main aspect that makes this possible is the architectural for solution. At the core of Aurora Cloud Console is the concept of a virtual chain, a solution that inherits the security and infrastructure of the mother chain. In our case, this is the near blockchain. Virtual chains are implemented as smart contracts on the mother chain, allowing their management and customization to be as simple as adjusting the smart contract parameters prior to deployment. That's why virtual chains are both easy to deploy and

Starting point is 00:02:09 highly customizable. Ashant Pandey. Virtual chains are unique in that they inherit NEAR's validator set and infrastructure. How does this architectural choice impact the security, scalability, and cost structure compared to traditional L2 solutions that need to build their own validator networks? Alex Shevchenko. L2s are traditionally run on a single sequencer node with compromise to inherit the security of the L1 blockchain in the future, commonly referred to as stage 2 rollups. However, the uncomfortable truth is that very few teams have reached this stage, with most rollups being on stage 0, seal 2 beat. Calm, which implies trust in the sequencer. Virtual chains, on the other hand, operate as smart contracts and therefore share the same trust assumptions as their mother

Starting point is 00:02:56 chain. In the case of Aurora Cloud, this means 235 validators with a combined stake of over $2. 5 billion validate all the virtual chains from their very first block. In fact, the NIR protocol is a shared decentralized sequencer for all virtual chains. Ashan Pandey. Looking at the launch of Aurora Cloud Console specifically, what types of projects or use cases do you envision this platform enabling that weren't previously possible or were too resource-intensive to pursue? Alex Shevchenko. Industry estimates, see this, suggest that launching a blockchain typically costs tens of millions of US dollars. This is a significant barrier to entry. Aurora Cloud Console eliminates this cost entirely, reducing the price to zero. I expect this change

Starting point is 00:03:43 will make it possible for early-stage founders to experiment and achieve product-market fit much faster. By removing this obstacle, we expect a transformative impact on the development and adoption of blockchain use cases across the board. Ashant Pandey. With features like guided parameter selection and real-time monitoring, the console seems designed for both technical and non-technical users. How do you balance making blockchain deployment accessible while ensuring users understand the implications of their configuration choices? Alex Shevchenko. Making UX better is a never-ending story smiley face. Our approach is to make sure that in 80% of the cases, the founder, administrator of a new chain can access all the necessary information

Starting point is 00:04:25 and understand the implications directly in the Aurora Cloud Console. For the remaining 20%, we provide support groups and THE option to schedule a call with our team. However, I must admit that launching blockchains is not for everyone, just like getting a server on AWS. Ashan Pandey, you've mentioned that Aurora goes beyond Ethereum compatibility. With the launch of Cloud Console, how do you see Aurora's role evolving in bridging the gap between different blockchain ecosystems? Alex Shevchenko. Ethereum has established the EVM as the de facto standard for blockchain runtime. However, blockchains fundamentally are

Starting point is 00:05:02 a thing in itself, with no native connections to the outside world. The state of affairs thought dictates that there are many blockchains and launching them becomes increasingly simple. So, the multi-chain future is no longer the future, it's our present. And we need to allow for it. We need to provide builders the convenient mechanisms of seamless interaction between blockchains. Within Aurora Cloud infrastructure, we offer such a technological solution chain signatures. It is developed and launched as a part of the NEAR protocol and it allows accounts to hold keys, such as those from an account on other chains, and sign messages and transactions using them. This technology is

Starting point is 00:05:40 available for all virtual chains from their first block. It is also important to mention that not only this, but the entire existing NEA RAND Aurora infrastructure is available to virtual chains. Moreover, future infrastructure updates become available at the moment of deployment. While L2Soften create fragmented, non-interacting ecosystems, the virtual chain approach fosters the network effect among all of the chains, ensuring seamless connectivity and collaboration. Ashant Pandey, the blockchain industry has seen various attempts at making chain deployment more accessible. What lessons from the C-Previous approaches informed the development of Aurora Cloud Console,

Starting point is 00:06:19 and how does it address their limitations? Alex Shevchenko. The key lesson we've learned is that designing a solution must begin with a problem you want to solve, rather than forcing existing ideas to fit these problems. L2s were designed as a scalability solutions to Ethereum, who said that such an approach is the best one for launching a chain. The ideal solution for launching a chain should meet the following criteria. It should take seconds to launch, be as decentralized as the existing top blockchain protocols, and offer all the

Starting point is 00:06:49 necessary infrastructure available from the first block, stablecoins, sexes integration, bridges, messaging protocols, DeFi ecosystem, cross-chain primitives, NFP marketplaces, launchpads, custodian sand on ramps, RPCs and indexing solutions, wallets, explorers and governance solutions, and perhaps something else. Ideally, all of this should be free. While Aurora Cloud hasn't yet achieved this ideal fully, our architecture is capable of delivering it. And we've already accomplished 90% of this. Ashan Pandey. As we look ahead to the rest of 2025, what developments in the virtual chain ecosystem should we be watching for, and how does the Aurora Cloud Console fit into your

Starting point is 00:07:31 longer-term vision for blockchain accessibility? Alex Shevchenko. The virtual chain approach represents the ultimate solution for launching blockchains. However, this doesn't mean the work is done. There's still much to accomplish, including expanding the availability of infrastructure pieces through an open infrastructure marketplace within Aurora Cloud, as well as further optimizing deployment speeds. Looking ahead, I look forward to what builders will bring to the table having such a powerful instrument in their hands. Our goal for 2025 is to help others launch 1,000 virtual chains. And I'm pretty sure it's more than achievable. Don't forget to like and share the story. Tip Vested Interest Disclosure.

Starting point is 00:08:11 This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. Hacker Noon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. Hashtag D-Y-O-R. Thank you for listening to this HackerNoon story, read by Artificial Intelligence. Visit HackerNoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.

The Good Tech Companies - How Aurora is Making Blockchain Deployment as Simple as AWS

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