INTRODUCTION TO GATHER

Gather Network is the underlying protocol layer of the marketplace-based platform where publishers meet with enterprises and developers, aiming to bring the usage of blockchain to the mainstream by bridging the gap between websites and normal users, promoting transparency, security, and rewarding all participants.

More about Gather: Gather whitepaper

WHAT IS THE GATHER BLOCKCHAIN?

A blockchain is a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network.

The Gather Network blockchain is a fork of Ethereum and supports most of the features of Ethereum Blockchain including EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).

Gather currently uses a proof of work consensus mechanism.

GTH is the native cryptocurrency of GATHER.

GATHER TPS (TRANSACTIONS PER SECOND)

Average TPS for Gather is 20 (This varies based on the transaction type).

Block gas limit is 8,000,000.

GATHER BLOCKTIME

The time it takes to mine a new block is referred to as block time. The average block time in Gather is ~13 seconds (varies from 10 to 20 seconds).

GATHER FEE

Gather, unlike Ethereum, has a fixed gas price of one Gwei. The gas price in Ethereum is set by supply and demand among the network's miners, but Gather has a fixed gas price for all sorts of transactions, regardless of network congestion or the type of transaction.

TERMINOLOGY

Blockchain

A blockchain is a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network.

It is a constantly growing ledger that keeps a permanent record of all the transactions that have taken place in a secure, chronological, and immutable way.

GTH

GTH is the native cryptocurrency of GATHER. Fundamentally, it is the only payment method accepted by Gather Network for transaction fees.

Accounts

Just like Ethereum, there are two different kinds of accounts in Gather:

• Externally owned – anyone with private keys can control it.

• Contract — a smart contract controlled by code that is deployed to the network.

Both kinds of accounts have the ability to:

• Store, send and receive GTH and tokens

• Interact with smart contracts that have been deployed

Transactions

Accounts generate cryptographically signed instructions in the form of transactions. A transaction will be initiated by an account to update the Gather network's state.

Transferring GTH from one account to another is the simplest transaction.

Transactions that affect the EVM's state must be broadcast to the entire network. Any node can broadcast a request for a transaction to be executed on the EVM; after this happens, a miner will execute the transaction and propagate the resulting state change to the rest of the network.

Transactions must be mined to become valid and require a fee.

Blocks

Transactions are bundled into blocks to ensure that all network participants remain in sync and agree on the exact history of transactions. This implies that dozens (or hundreds) of transactions are committed, agreed upon, and synced at the same time.

Blocks are linked by a hash of the previous block in the chain.

Chain

"Chain" refers to the fact that each block cryptographically references its parent. In other words, blocks get chained together. The data in a block cannot change without changing all subsequent blocks, which would require the consensus of the entire network.

Smart contracts

A "smart contract" is simply a program that runs on the blockchain. It's a collection of code (its functions) and data (its state) that resides at a specific address on the blockchain.

GAS

The unit of a gas refers to the amount of processing effort required to perform specified Gather network functions.

Because each Gather transaction requires the use of computational resources, each transaction requires a fee. The fee necessary to complete a transaction on Gather is referred to as gas.

Gather's native currency, GTH, is used to pay for gas.