# Introduction

At the heart of the network infrastructure and protocols in the open metaverse is The Root Network (TRN).

The Root Network is the core blockchain infrastructure designed with a strong emphasis on user onboarding, aiming to improve the web3 experience. While the initial onboarding process in web3 lacks user-friendliness and safety features compared to web2, once users are onboarded, web3 offers superior privacy and flexibility in handling assets and data.

The Root Network has the following main elements:

## Substrate Core

The Root Network uses [Substrate](https://substrate.io/) at its core. Substrate has two major advantages: a large, well-established developer community, and the technical capability to customize the chain runtimes to optimize for user experience.

## EVM Support for Smart Contracts

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) runs within The Root Network protocol and is able to read Solidity smart contracts and execute them. This gives The Root Network developers access to smart contract functionality and also means that any code previously written for Ethereum can now run natively on The Root Network.

The EVM development ecosystem provides the broadest possible support for smart contracts and dapps, as well as compatibility with existing collections and collectibles in the NFT ecosystem.

## Custom Runtimes

Our custom runtimes for Non-Fungible Assets, Gas Economy, Fungible Assets, Decentralized Exchange, Oracles and more, will provide the ingredients for creators to build applications and content without being a smart contract developer. They also provide a world-class onboarding experience.

## Non-Fungible Assets Runtime

The Root Network NFT runtime provides a single unified network-wide experience for NFTs.

In other networks, NFTs exist at the individual contract layer. In The Root Network, NFTs exist in a core network runtime. This provides a common standard to build interoperability.

A uniform approach to minting, royalties and structuring, especially in the metadata and content formats, is essential for delivering the asset interoperability people imagine at the application layer.

The NFT runtime also has unique features like:

* Network-wide royalty enforcement
* Native multi-wallet split and tiered royalties for creators
* Native NFT to NFT swaps
* Native Static and cold minting options
* Build NFT dapps without needing to develop or deploy smart contracts
* Fees from the NFT runtime are distributed to network stakers and validators

The Root Network also integrates the XRPL XLS-20 NFT standard as a runtime, enabling compatibility with the XRPL NFT ecosystem and infrastructure.

## Multi-Token Economy

The Root Network has a unique multi-token economy that enables the optimization of both gas and initial user onboarding.

In traditional single-token networks, high or unpredictable gas fees create significant challenges for users, impacting their overall experience. Additionally, the need to understand and obtain gas for transactions poses a considerable barrier for new users entering decentralized applications within web3.

The Root Network introduces a unique multi-token system where the primary network token, [ROOT](https://the-root-network.gitbook.io/intro/learn/glossary), is separated from the gas token, XRP, sourced from a partnership with [Ripple](https://ripple.com/) and the [XRPL](https://xrpl.org/index.html). This separation enables efficient network operation and fosters liquidity for block rewards. The network addresses the user problem of complex gas acquisition by implementing an in-chain Gas fee exchange, allowing users to use the native token of the application or have developers pay fees on their behalf through liquidity pools. This innovative approach ensures smoother user onboarding without the necessity of comprehending the network's underlying economy or engaging with external exchanges.

## Fungible Assets

Like the NFT runtime, users can create and launch standardized fungible tokens without having to deploy smart contract code, and compatible with XRPL fungible tokens. 1% of each new asset created in the Fungible Assets runtime is distributed to network node validators as a fee.

## Decentralized Exchange

The network exchange runtime provides an in-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) with a rich set of features that enable users and developers to trade collectibles, build liquidity pools and launch token price discovery, without having to deploy smart contract code. Exchange fees are collected by node validators. The in-chain DEX will also be integrated into the XRPL DEX to draw liquidity from to bootstrap the network liquidity.

## Liquidity and Collectibles Bridges

The Root Network natively supports collectibles bridges through its general purpose bridging runtime. This means, for example, [FLUF World](https://under.fluf.world/) assets on the ETH network or fungible and non-fungible assets on the XRPL can be bridged to The Root Network to gain additional utility. These two networks will be live at launch, but others can be added as the ecosystem grows. The Root Network can also act as a hub for other Substrate-based and XRPL-based networks. This would apply to people who want to build interoperable content in the ecosystem, but require their own MetaApp chain.
