Perun: Virtual Payment and State Channel Networks
Duration: 00:24:49
Speaker: Sebastian Faust, Stefan Dziembowski, Lisa Eckey, Kristina Hostakova
Type: Talk
Expertise: Intermediate
Event: Devcon
Date: Jul 2026
In this talk, we will present the Perun Network: a general framework of 2nd layer protocols supporting off-chain payments and arbitrary smart contract off-chain execution. Perun allows its users to execute contracts off-chain via complex state channel networks possibly involving many intermediaries over which contract execution can be routed. One distinctive feature of Perun is that its channels can be virtual, meaning that once a virtual channel is established transactions can be executed even without involvement of the intermediaries. This enables nearly real-time transaction execution with minimal latency at negligible costs. Moreover, privacy of transactions is significantly improved. An additional property of Perun is that its security is backed up by formal proofs using state-of-the-art scientific methods from cryptographic research. Besides presenting the main conceptual ideas of our system, we will outline some of the the major scientific challenges that need to be addressed when designing secure and efficient 2nd layer protocols. Further information available at https://perun.network/
