Non Technical Primer
In this page we will describe the Checker Network using the analogy of Michelin Star Critics.
What is the Checker Network?
Imagine you want to eat at a good local restaurant. You open up Google Maps, search for restaurants and then look at the star ratings and the reviews. You can scan through a bunch of previous reviews that can tell you whether or not the restaurant is worth going to.
You may even like fine dining and instead look at the Michelin star restaurants in your neighbourhood, those with the top reputation worldwide.
You can think of the Checker Network as a decentralised network of Michelin critics. In the Checker Network, we refer to these Michelin reviews as “checks”. Checker nodes, or just simply “Checkers”, audit and review Web3 networks to make sure they actually do what they say they do, not just what the network dashboard or network’s foundation says they do in their self hosted dashboard.
How does the Checker Network work?
When a Michelin critic wants to review a restaurant, they go to the restaurant and sample the menu. It is hard to write a good review without actually going to the restaurant, without using the service. The Checker Network works in just the same way. It creates random sample tasks that the network says it offers, performs those tasks and records the results.
However, while the set of Michelin critics is a trusted bunch all working fro Michelin, the Checker Network is decentralised. Anyone can be a Michelin critic in the Checker Network. This means the Checker Network cannot trust the reviews or checks of an individual checker. And so the Checker Network uses cryptographic and cryptoeconomic techniques to extract truthful test results out of all the checkers who perform the same checks. To continue with the analogy, you can think of this as akin to 10 Michelin critics who all go and eat at the same restaurant and then give a star rating. You can then aggregate over all 10 ratings to create a more truthful individual rating for the restaurant, accounting for the fact that some critics may have intentionally given a good or bad score due to outside interests in the given restaurant.
What is a Checker Subnet?
A Checker Subnet is a checker protocol that is deployed to all or some of the current checkers and runs checks against a Web3 network. To continue with the Michelin analogy, a Subnet is akin to the set of Michelin critics who review on particular restaurant.
What is a good example of a Checker Subnet?
Spark is the original Checker subnet and checks the performance of the Filecoin Network and its nodes, which are called Storage Providers.
What problem does the Checker Network solve?
No one trusts DePIN Networks. There is simply not enough data around them to convince potential real clients to sign up to these networks outside of the Web3 builders echo chamber. The existing proof protocols that govern these network have very little protection against multi-noding, self-dealing and other attacks that seek to exploit the one dimensional cryptoeconomic games that these networks have set up. Web3 Networks need more layers of proofs, more verifiability, more auditing, more checking from independent auditors.
The Checker Network provides decentralised quality of service and reputation data for Web3 networks. Checker subnets provide pluggable proof and checking protocols to help clients build trust in Web3 networks.
← Previous
Next →