Elrond is a blockchain that offers extremely fast transaction speeds by making use of [sharding](//gzht888.com/sharding-and-the-scaling-of-a-blockchain-xz1kq30j0?ref=gzht888.com). It aims to provide efficiency, security, [scalability](//gzht888.com/achieving-blockchain-scalability-with-sparse-merkle-trees-and-bloom-filters-3b9945f003f?ref=gzht888.com), and [interoperability](//gzht888.com/interoperability-and-why-its-important-for-the-blockchain-space?ref=gzht888.com). \ The system uses the [proof of stake](//gzht888.com/proof-of-work-pow-vs-proof-of-stake-pos-sharding-edition-9kae30ge?ref=gzht888.com) consensus mechanism which syncs separate components of a network to a common ledger and adaptive state sharding which splits the Elrond infrastructure in order to support more transactions and programs. The system contains a virtual machine that supports the creation of and execution of [decentralized applications](//gzht888.com/what-are-decentralized-applications-dapps-3b63b4d587fe?ref=gzht888.com). ## **History** Elrond was founded in 2017 by Lucian Todea, Lucian Mincu and Beniamin Mincu. The system is supported by the Elrond network, a company dedicated to expanding the project that is based in Malta. \ The project raised $1.9 million in June 2019 through a private investment round from investors. Elrond held an Initial Exchange Offering that same month, raising $3.5 million from 25% of their token supply. \ Elrond changed its native [cryptocurrency](//gzht888.com/whats-a-crypto-currency-really-is-fa93a3efadb4?ref=gzht888.com) from the ERD coin to the EGLD coin in July 2020 once it launched its [mainnet](//gzht888.com/how-to-launch-or-not-launch-a-mainnet-testnet-f857a82b91ad?ref=gzht888.com). This is because Elrond changed the total amount of cryptocurrency they held from 20 billion ERD to 20 million EGLD once the mainnet was launched. The swap changed 1000 ERD for 1 EGLD. They held a transitory event to enable investors to exchange ERD for EGLD. The value of EGLD increased by nearly 300% within five months of the currency being changed. ## **Biggest Claims to Fame** Elrond developed technology that can process over 15,000 transactions per second. This is a lot more than the [blockchain](//gzht888.com/wtf-is-the-blockchain-1da89ba19348?ref=gzht888.com) giants can claim, with [Bitcoin](//gzht888.com/this-time-is-different-part-2-what-bitcoin-really-is-ae58c69b3bf0?ref=gzht888.com)being able to handle 7 transactions per second and [Ethereum](//gzht888.com/understanding-ethereum-a-complete-guide-6f32ea8f5888?ref=gzht888.com) being able to handle 14 transactions per second. \ Elrond has plans to introduce a card that will allow for interactions between cryptocurrencies and traditional currency to over 500,000 new users. Users of Elrond will be able to use this card at over 60 million merchants worldwide. The vision is pulling in more investors and users as it shows and provides a way people can use cryptocurrency in their day-to-day lives. \ Data is encrypted on millions of nodes during transactions. All of these nodes are updated once new data is recorded so every node is up to date on the data. This data is encoded to ensure it is tamper-proof. \n [Smart contracts](//gzht888.com/smart-contracts-an-overview-q52t34pb?ref=gzht888.com) on Elrond are adaptable. The issue with smart contracts on platforms is that once they are launched they are nearly impossible to change. Elrond has worked on and developed technology that solves this problem. \ Elrond is unique due to the fact that it can solve complex issues in both the scaling and consensus and maintain low computation resources and only requires an inexpensive network of computers. ## **Biggest Criticism of Elrond** Interoperability is yet to be available within the chains. Information cannot be shared freely across various blockchain networks. This makes it difficult for people to transact with other blockchains and prevents diverse functionalities like [cross-chain](//gzht888.com/the-role-of-cross-chain-technology-in-powering-a-decentralized-internet-66f8fb1c63f0?ref=gzht888.com) transactions. It also reduces multi-token transactions by removing the possibility of multi-token wallet systems. \ Sharding provides a potential problem in validating transactions. Once a single block of data goes missing within a transaction, the entire history of a single transaction can be declared invalid. In case of multiple blocks of data go missing, multiple transactions could have issues and those issues could spread to other nodes and different blocks of data, causing the entire system to stall or crash due to an influx of errors and incomplete transactions. ## **Elrond Team** Beniamin Mincu is one of the creators of Elrond and is currently the CEO of the network. He is an early pioneer of blockchain in Europe. He was part of the product and business team at NemCore in 2014. He founded and is CEO of MetaChain Capital. \ Lucien Todea is one of the founders and is Chief Operating Officer at Elrond. He is a tech entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Soft 32 and mobilPay. He is an Angel investor at Typing DNA and Smart Bill. \ Lucian Mincu is one of the founders of Elrond and is the Chief Information Officer of Elrond. He is an engineer with several years of experience in creating network solutions for clients which includes the German government. \ [Read more Elrond stories on HackerNoon](//gzht888.com/search?query=elrond&ref=gzht888.com)