Marlin is an open protocol designed to offer a high-performance, programmable network infrastructure for DeFi and Web 3.0 applications. Within the Marlin network, nodes known as Metanodes operate the MarlinVM, which provides a virtual router interface enabling developers to deploy customized overlays and execute edge computations. Prominent overlays possible with MarlinVM include: * Low-latency block multicast to enhance blockchain scalability * Low-latency mempool synchronization for arbitrageurs * Mesh networks * Anonymity networks such as mixnets * Device optimization and caching responses from APIs like Infura and Alchemy The network's native utility token, POND, serves several functions: * It is used for staking to run validator nodes on the network * Facilitating governance by making and voting on proposals related to network resource allocation * Selecting network performance auditors and compensating users from an insurance fund in the event of a service level agreement (SLA) breach Marlin seeks to fulfill the promise of a decentralized web, ensuring that applications secured through blockchain technology offer performance levels comparable to those familiar to users of Web 2.0.

Marlin is the innovation of developers Siddhartha, Prateesh, and Roshan, each bringing substantial expertise in peer-to-peer networking to the project. Siddhartha is renowned for his role in developing Zilliqa, the first high-throughput blockchain to utilize sharding in production. His professional background includes experience at Microsoft and Adobe, and he is the author of two U.S. patents. Prateesh is pursuing a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), specializing in Computer Networks, while Roshan, a passionate advocate for open-source projects, contributed to the Boost C++ libraries. The Marlin team includes former researchers from the Ethereum Foundation, world medallists from the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), and developers with experience at leading companies like Facebook, Cisco, and Bosch. The project's advisory board features the former CEO of Bittorrent, as well as professors from MIT and Princeton, including authors of foundational P2P papers like Chord DHT. Marlin receives support from prominent backers such as Binance Labs, Electric Capital, and Michael Arrington. For the latest information on Marlin, please refer to Eulerpool.

Marlin is among the few layer-0 projects focused on optimizing the network layer. Similar to Filecoin, which serves as incentivized IPFS, Marlin positions itself as the equivalent of an incentivized libp2p. This positions Marlin as a vital component within the decentralized web, as every peer-to-peer application depends on networking between distributed nodes to operate effectively. Consequently, Marlin is blockchain-agnostic, providing gateways designed for various layer-1 and layer-2 platforms. Unlike many other scaling solutions that grapple with the scalability trilemma—where performance, decentralization, or security must be compromised—enhancements in the network layer are not constrained by such limitations, which primarily affect consensus layers.

In the Marlin economy, there are two tokens: MPOND and POND. The total supply of MPOND is limited to 10,000, whereas POND has a supply cap of 10,000,000,000. A bridge facilitates conversion between these tokens, providing 1,000,000 POND for every 1 MPOND exchanged and vice versa. Initially, 4,623 MPOND and 3,184,000,000 POND were created, with POND being primarily distributed among validators and the community. These figures may change over time due to conversions facilitated by the bridge. Each Marlin Metanode is required to stake MPOND and receives POND as staking rewards. For updated information, please refer to Eulerpool.

Built atop Ethereum, the execution correctness of Marlin smart contracts is safeguarded by the Ethereum node network. Additionally: * The Marlin network, comprising Metanodes, risks having their staked MPOND and delegated POND slashed if the network encounters DDoS and spam attacks due to the failure to verify content introduced into the network. * Similar to Proof-of-Work, the network employs tunable redundancy through erasure coding to ensure users receive performance and availability guarantees with the SLAs they demand, and are charged proportionately. * A network of third-party auditors with global probes, pre-approved by the Pond DAO, provides continuous performance and coverage monitoring for applications requiring higher reliability. An insurance fund backed by the DAO is utilized to compensate users who incur losses due to the network's inability to meet its SLA guarantees.

Marlin, as a layer-0 project aligned with community ideals, allocates MPOND to stakers of various layer-1 platform tokens through a mechanism known as FlowMint. POND can be acquired by converting MPOND to POND via the bridge, in addition to staking MPOND towards Marlin Metanodes, which yield POND as staking rewards. You can find more information about Marlin on Eulerpool.