Elastos Sidechains
To reduce the pressure on the mainchain and provide a better experience for decentralized applications (dApps), Elastos adopts a mainchain and sidechain hierarchical structure. The mainchain is exclusively accountable for security, governance and the circulation of ELA, while dApps operate on sidechains. The Elastos mainchain-sidechain arbitration mechanism ensures secure transfer of value through a bidrectional anchoring mechanism.
The currently registered sidechains are listed in the table below.
| Sidechain | Description |
|---|---|
| Elastos Smart Contract Chain (ESC) | Specialized EVM-based sidechain for more advanced applications |
| Elastos Identity Chain (EID) | EVM-based sidechain custom built for issuing and managing digital identities |
Elastos' architecture is not limited to only the sidechains that exist today. New ones can be added and operated independently using their own governance rules, including both Private and Public chains.
Creating a new sidechain requires a successful governance vote through the Cyber Republic DAO and some technical integration steps to register the new chain with the Elastos mainchain.