iExec (RLC): On-Demand Decentralized Cloud Computing

Blockchain Cloud Computing Services for Business

The majority of businesses today use some form of cloud computing service that provides on-demand data storage or computing power without the need for costly investments or direct active management. In addition to cutting costs on IT equipment, physical space, and technical personnel, organizations can also use cloud computing to enhance their scalability and operational efficiency.

iExec is a blockchain project that offers a wide range of cloud computing services similar to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure — but in a more decentralized fashion. The iExec project’s core offerings enable on-demand access to computing power, datasets, and applications over a decentralized network furnished by resource providers who are incentivized with tokenized rewards. While iExec does compete with centralized cloud computing services, the project’s ultimate goal is to leapfrog Web2-based legacy systems and become a one-stop resource for blockchain-based cloud computing.

iExec, RLC, and Computational Resource-Sharing

iExec’s growing ecosystem of available decentralized applications (dApps) supports a wide range of applications in fields such as AI, decentralized finance (DeFi), and healthcare. The iExec product line is continuously developing new protocols to streamline access to the decentralized computing economy. The project’s primary offering is the iExec Marketplace, which allows resource providers and users to exchange RLC — the primary native token and medium of exchange on the iExec crypto platform — for a wide range of computational resources and blockchain-based cloud services. Service providers can place sell orders that establish the price at which they are willing to complete the tasks they offer, and end users can place “work orders” that allow their requests to be automatically executed if and when their pre-selected criteria are met by service providers. Generally speaking, the most common offerings are:

• Blockchain cloud computing: CPU, GPU, Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)

• dApps: Decentralized, high performance computing apps that can fulfill a wide range of functions such as 3D rendering, simulations, and machine learning

•  Datasets: Data, API keys, AI models

Individuals and businesses alike are free to use the iExec Marketplace as either a service provider or customer. However, enterprise blockchain users often require more robust services that are more strictly compliant with financial regulations. To that end, iExec has created an Enterprise Marketplace that is specifically designed to allow enterprise users to exchange decentralized cloud resources within a well-regulated on-chain environment. The Enterprise Marketplace’s built-in Know-Your-Customer (KYC), Know-Your-Business (KYB), and Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) features provide an enhanced layer of security and assurance for businesses.

Both iExec marketplaces are augmented by a matchmaking smart contract that helps ensure that resource providers are well-suited for tasks to which they commit decentralized computing power. This smart contract also underpins the service provider reputation systems for both marketplaces, which gives users a transparent and immutable gauge when assessing service options. The offerings available on iExec also enable individual users to supplement the performance of their local devices with decentralized cloud computing resources.

In addition to its marketplace offerings, iExec has also launched an “iExec Oracle Factory” that enables users to deploy their own decentralized oracle, or use an oracle created by other ecosystem participants. This service allows developers and businesses to more easily deploy commercial-ready dApps that can leverage legacy data systems within a flexible, transparent Web3 environment.

How Does the iExec Marketplace Work?

At its core, iExec is a decentralized cloud computing platform that runs on the Ethereum network. However, given the resource-intensive nature of many of iExec’s supported dApps and smart contracts, iExec takes processing-intensive computations off-chain in order to keep its functions as streamlined as possible. This is made possible through the use of XtremWeb-HEP, which is an open-source protocol that pools unused computing resources for use by third-party applications and platforms.

XtremeWeb-HEP was designed by the iExec crypto team, and the project claims that its software implements all the features required to facilitate global enterprise-scale computational resource-sharing in a secure yet verifiable off-chain environment. More specifically, the software is fault-tolerant, supports hybrid public/private IT infrastructures, and enables convenient data management, security, and accountability features.

iExec’s consensus protocol is called Proof of Contribution (PoCo), and it is designed to link the platform’s XtremWeb-HEP distributed computing infrastructure with its decentralized cloud services marketplace, and to achieve trust between marketplace participants.

Generally speaking, the iExec Marketplace is populated with four types of stakeholders:

• Users: Most of iExec’s users are marketplace participants looking to tap into the platform’s decentralized cloud computing services.

• Application providers: Application providers are businesses or independent developers that provide users with dApp services on the iExec Marketplace.

• Workers: Workers provide on-demand computational resources by executing specific actions requested by marketplace users, and receive RLC crypto rewards. These workers can operate independently, or pool their resources with other workers, and their work assignments are determined by a scheduler.

• Schedulers: iExec relies on a distributed network of schedulers to organize workers into working pools, delegate user tasks to workers, and score the quality of workers’ inputs. Schedulers are rewarded with RLC tokens for helping manage iExec’s market infrastructure.

When a deal is agreed on in a marketplace, iExec’s PoCo consensus mechanism validates the contributions made by workers via its XtremeWeb-HTP middleware. The workers that have been selected by the scheduler for a task will have on-chain proof of their involvement, even though the bulk of the computational workload required for each task will take place off-chain. At this stage, the workers will also automatically be granted access to any relevant datasets required to complete their task, and schedulers’ delegation decisions will be transparently recorded on-chain in order to avoid dishonest behavior.

The PoCo consensus protocol is also the key to determining a worker’s reputation score, which is a positive integer that is adjusted each time a worker verifiably completes a task. Workers who provide a sub-optimal contribution will lose one-third of their total score, and do not receive any rewards for the associated task. PoCo therefore provides full oversight over all transactions between marketplace participants in a way designed to provide strong economic incentives for all actors to behave honestly.

The iExec RLC Token

The iExec token, RLC, is an ERC-20 token that serves as the platform’s primary medium of exchange. All transactions that occur on iExec’s decentralized cloud marketplaces are settled in RLC tokens, and workers need to stake RLC tokens as security deposits to be eligible to execute computation tasks. In terms of tokenomics, there is a total capped supply of 87 million RLC tokens, and 69% of these tokens were sold in a public crowdsale as part of iExec’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The remaining tokens were allocated in the following manner:

• 17.2% for the iExec team and advisors

• 6.9% for an emergency contingency fund for iExec

• 6.9% reserved for iExec’s ongoing development

This distribution mechanism means that iExec RLC tokens have already been distributed and no new tokens will ever be minted and issued. The only way to obtain RLC is to purchase it on the open market, earn rewards by participating in an iExec marketplace, or provide liquidity for the token on Hummingbot or a decentralized exchange (DEX) that supports RLC crypto trading pairs.

While iExec’s primary marketplace uses RLC tokens, transactions executed in its Enterprise Marketplace require a different unit of exchange, the Enterprise RLC (eRLC) token. The eRLC token operates as a business-friendly equivalent of the standard RLC token. It provides access to identical applications, but is reserved only for the project’s enterprise offerings. These eRLC tokens can be seamlessly exchanged 1:1 for RLC tokens and vice versa, and eRLC tokens make it easier for businesses to interact with iExec’s enterprise-focused service providers while adhering to their relevant financial regulations.

Blockchains and the Future of Distributed Computing

Most leading enterprises today use cloud computing, and even ordinary netizens increasingly rely on some form of third-party cloud services. There is clearly a strong connection between blockchains and the future of distributed computing. Demand continues to increase for offerings like the iExec Marketplace, which has several notable decentralized cloud computing competitors – including Akash, ICP, NEAR, and Golem. Projects of this kind are attempting to surpass centralized service providers by enabling anyone to access and provide computational resources in a seamless yet reliable way.

Decentralized web services should not necessarily have to rely on centralized computing solutions, and iExec allows both resource providers and users to engage openly in a way that is flexible, scalable, and free-market driven. As blockchain-based cloud services and smart contracts become more complex, users will require more computing power than they often have on hand. iExec aims to allow Web3 users to take advantage of these dApps’ growing sophistication and scale without worrying about lack of data and other computational constraints.