Holochain

Last updated
Holochain
Development
White paper https://github.com/holochain/holochain-proto/blob/whitepaper/holochain.pdf
Latest release holochain 0.5.5 / August 19, 2025
Code repository https://github.com/holochain/holochain
Development statusActive
Written in Rust
Developer(s) Holochain Foundation
Source modelOpen Source
License Cryptographic Autonomy License version 1.0 (CAL-1.0)
Website
Website https://www.holochain.org/

Holochain is an open source framework for developing and deploying distributed applications. [1] Its purpose is to enable the kinds of activities people do on the Internet every day (wikis, blogs, social networks, marketplaces, etc.) without using centralized servers. [2] Instead, Holochain applications are run on the users’ devices. [3] It has been proposed as an alternative technology to blockchain-based systems and centralized platforms. [2] [4] [5] [6]

Although the Holochain project has been in development for more than 10 years, the first Beta release happened in January 2023. [7] Therefore, it has not yet been tested as extensively as blockchains in real-world environments. [3] [4]

Co-founders of Holochain are Arthur Brock and Eric Harris-Braun. [8]

Technical background

Holochain is an open-source framework for developing distributed applications, utilizing a novel implementation of distributed hash tables (DHT) called RRDHT, [1] inspired by BitTorrent, along with concepts similar to Git for data management, and cryptographic signatures for ensuring data integrity. [3] [9] The main difference between Holochain and other distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) is that Holochain is agent-centric while other DLTs are data-centric. [10] [11] It has been classified as a type of private and permissionless DLT for building decentralized applications. [12]

An agent-centric approach to applications means that each agent stores only relevant data, and unlike Bitcoin and other blockchain systems, there is no singular centralized database to be maintained. [13] [14] Where blockchains operate with a global consensus model, often leading to scalability issues, [3] Holochain implements an agent-centric model. This means that rather than maintaining a single, unified ledger of all transactions or interactions, each user on Holochain has their own individual chain of data, or "source chain", that represents their history of actions. The personal chain interacts with a DHT that provides a means for the larger network to verify the data by peers that are randomly selected. This difference makes it more efficient than blockchain, as demonstrated by its ability to run over 50 full nodes on a single Raspberry Pi. [15] In the scientific literature, there are performance analyses conducted to compare the efficiency, resource usage, privacy, and security levels of Holochain-based solutions and blockchain-based solutions. [16] [17] Holochain has been compared to proof-of-work and proof-of-stake blockchains in terms of its environmental impact. [18]

References

  1. 1 2 USPTO.report. "Holochain--A framework for distributed applications". USPTO.report. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  2. 1 2 "Move over, blockchain: Holochain is coming | Business | Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 08.11.2018". Deutsche Welle . 2022-08-18. Archived from the original on 2022-08-18. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Kıyak, Yavuz Selim; Poor, Alex; Budakoğlu, Işıl İrem; Coşkun, Özlem (2022-09-15). "Holochain: a novel technology without scalability bottlenecks of blockchain for secure data exchange in health professions education". Discover Education. 1 (1): 13. doi: 10.1007/s44217-022-00013-y . ISSN   2731-5525. S2CID   252326536.
  4. 1 2 Mergermarket. "Blockchain Turns Pied Piper's Internet Fiction Into Reality". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  5. ↑ "VYSYN Ventures Helps Disruptive Blockchain Startups Fulfill Their Potential". AP NEWS. 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  6. ↑ "VYSYN Ventures Helps Disruptive Blockchain Startups Fulfill Their Potential". Bloomberg.com. 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
  7. ↑ "Release holochain 0.1.0 (20230126.223635) · holochain/holochain". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
  8. ↑ "How HOLO cryptocurrency is helping distributed application adoption". finance.yahoo.com. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
  9. ↑ Zia, Muhammad F.; Benbouzid, Mohamed; Elbouchikhi, Elhoussin; Muyeen, S. M.; Techato, Kuaanan; Guerrero, Josep M. (2020). "Microgrid Transactive Energy: Review, Architectures, Distributed Ledger Technologies, and Market Analysis". IEEE Access. 8: 19410–19432. Bibcode:2020IEEEA...819410Z. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2968402 . ISSN   2169-3536. S2CID   210995326.
  10. ↑ Bauwens, Michel; Pazaitis, Alex (2019). P2P Accounting for Planetary Survival (PDF). P2P Foundation.
  11. ↑ Soltani, Reza; Zaman, Marzia; Joshi, Rohit; Sampalli, Srinivas (2022-08-06). "Distributed Ledger Technologies and Their Applications: A Review". Applied Sciences. 12 (15): 7898. doi: 10.3390/app12157898 . ISSN   2076-3417.
  12. ↑ Bank, World (May 2020). "Distributed Ledger Technology and Secured Transactions" . doi:10.1596/34009. hdl:10986/34009. S2CID   241628680.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ↑ Wahlstrom, Kirsten; Ul-haq, Anwaar; Burmeister, Oliver (2020-06-08). "Privacy by design: a Holochain exploration". Australasian Journal of Information Systems. 24. doi: 10.3127/ajis.v24i0.2801 . ISSN   1449-8618. S2CID   225746585.
  14. ↑ Frahat, Rzan Tarig; Monowar, Muhammed Mostafa; Buhari, Seyed M (May 2019). "Secure and Scalable Trust Management Model for IoT P2P Network". 2019 2nd International Conference on Computer Applications & Information Security (ICCAIS). Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: IEEE. pp. 1–6. doi:10.1109/CAIS.2019.8769467. ISBN   978-1-7281-0108-8. S2CID   198930338.
  15. ↑ Janjua, Kanwal; Shah, Munam Ali; Almogren, Ahmad; Khattak, Hasan Ali; Maple, Carsten; Din, Ikram Ud (2020-07-19). "Proactive Forensics in IoT: Privacy-Aware Log-Preservation Architecture in Fog-Enabled-Cloud Using Holochain and Containerization Technologies". Electronics. 9 (7): 1172. doi: 10.3390/electronics9071172 . ISSN   2079-9292.
  16. ↑ Zaman, Shakila; Khandaker, Muhammad R. A.; Khan, Risala T.; Tariq, Faisal; Wong, Kai-Kit (2022). "Thinking Out of the Blocks: Holochain for Distributed Security in IoT Healthcare". IEEE Access. 10: 37064–37081. arXiv: 2103.01322 . Bibcode:2022IEEEA..1037064Z. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3163580. ISSN   2169-3536. S2CID   232092188.
  17. ↑ Aftab, Asad; Chrysostomou, Chrysostomos; Qureshi, Hassaan Khaliq; Rehman, Semeen (2022-10-10). "Holo-Block Chain: A Hybrid Approach for Secured IoT Healthcare Ecosystem". 2022 18th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob). Thessaloniki, Greece: IEEE. pp. 243–250. arXiv: 2304.14175 . doi:10.1109/WiMob55322.2022.9941553. ISBN   978-1-6654-6975-3. S2CID   253556367.
  18. ↑ Kıyak, Yavuz Selim (2023-04-04). "Blockchain and Holochain in Medical Education from Planetary Health and Climate Change Perspectives". Revista Española de Educación Médica. 4 (1). doi: 10.6018/edumed.560581 . ISSN   2660-8529.
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