Blockchain Trilemma - Crypto Academy| S5W2- Homework post for @nane15
Hello friends, I humbly welcome you to the week5 of the season2 of the steemit crypto academy post.
This lecture happens to be the first of a great professor, @nane15, and it is a privilege to learn from him.
Without wasting anymore time, shall we proceed to the first task of the day
EXPLAIN IN YOUR OWN WORDS WHAT THE BLOCKCHAIN TRILEMMA IS
According to the Oxford dictionary, a trilemma is a condition whereby one has to make a difficult choice between three alternatives, especially when they are not desirable.
A trilemma in a sense is trying to tell that it is impossible to have all three substances in a situation.
The blockchain trilemma, a word formed by the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterlin, is a term which explains the difficulty of implementing there core features in the blockchain technology.
These three features, if implemented on a blockchain, will make the blockchain more attractive to users and at its best.
All blockchain projects, although having different goals, all revolve round three important concepts, and the blockchain trilemma proceeds to explain the difficulty experienced by programmers to implement this features.
These important features are:
- Decentralization
- Scalability
- Security
The blockchain trilemma is just a concept that shows the difficulty experienced in implementing the above-mentioned features, although, there's no law stating that this features cannot be implemented.
Permit me please, to shed a little light on these three features before we proceed.
SCALABILITY
Scalability of a blockchain is one of the core features of a blockchain network.
It is the ability of a network to process numerous numbers of transactions in a second without having congestion problems.
DECENTRALIZATION
The Decentralization of a blockchain network is one of the most interesting part of the network, it's freedom from the control of central unit.
This means that every user is responsible for their actions and no one is to be blamed.
SECURITY
We will all agree that security is the most important aspect of the blockchain network, especially when it has to do with transactions.
Without adequate Security, then it is not advisable to make use of the blockchain.
Inorder words, a blockchain must be very secured.
As explained above, if a blockchain network can possess all three features, then there's nothing lacking in the blockchain network.
From extensive research, I discovered some Cryptocurrencies and the trilemma they face;
BITCOIN:
I discovered that Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin possesses a very strong security and runs on a decentralized system, but is lacking in scalability. This means that it doesn't support the performance of too many transactions.
Bitcoin only function properly with a maximum of transactions per second.
BNB:
BNB possesses the core features asides Decentralization, BNB which is the binance coin is not decentralized because it possesses only 21 validators and this makes it scalable.
It is also very secured.
RIPPLE:
Ripple (XRP) is not doubt very scalable, being able to perform diverse of transactions at the same time and at a very high speed.
Ripple is also secured when when it comes to Security but it is lacking in terms of decentralization. Ripple coin is not fully decentralized..
Indeed the blockchain trilemma is a challenge that is yet to be overcome, as seen above, every cryptocurrency forego one of the core features of a blockchain network inorder to implement the other two.
Having properly understood this concept, join me, please, as we flow along with our professor @nane15 by considering the next task
IS THE BLOCKCHAIN TRILEMMA REALLY A TRILEMMA
IS THE BLOCKCHAIN TRILEMMA REALLY A TRILEMMA
Before providing answer to this question, please permit me to repeat an important phrase; there's no law stating that these three concepts( Security, Decentralization and Scalability) cannot be fully implemented.
The idea of blockchain trilemma is only trying to make us understand the difficulty currently experienced by blockchain developers in implementing these three concepts.
The truth remains that it is possible for these concepts to be fully implemented on a blockchain network.
A good example of a network zealously working to implement this is the cardano(ADA) network.
The cardano developers have successfully found a theoretical solution to the issue of blockchain trilemma but, they are yet to practicalize it and finally solve this challenge.
From my perspective, I will say that the blockchain trilemma is really a trilemma , because up to date, no network have been able to successfully implement the solutions to the trilemma.
Although, many teams are diligently working on the solutions, of which some have developed the theoretical solutions, but none have been able to successfully apply this solution.
I believe that the issue of blockchain trilemma, is a challenge that will be overcome with time.
As the world is advancing, so also are the efforts and research of our wonderful blockchain programmers, and with a short time left, this issue will be fully implemented.
Having scaled through this phase of our journey, shall we proceed to the next phase.
DEFINE THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS IN YOUR OWN WORDS
A.) DECENTRALIZATION
B.) SCALABILITY
C.) BLOCKCHAIN SECURITY
DEFINE THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS IN YOUR OWN WORDS
A.) DECENTRALIZATION
B.) SCALABILITY
C.) BLOCKCHAIN SECURITY
DECENTRALIZATION
Decentralization refers to the process whereby all activities of the cryptoworld is free from the control of a central unit.
This means that all transactions in the cryptoworld cannot be accessed nor manipulated by anyone, unlike our banks transactions that is usually controlled by a central unit.
Decentralization is the reverse of centralization.
Centralization, formed from the word Central, refers to a system whose activities are controlled by the central authority.
A good example of a Centralized system is the company that produces the Tecno product, be it phone or any other accessories. All it's activities are controlled by a central unit, which is the head of the organization.
A good example of a Decentralized system is the fast food franchise chain, here, all activities is solely dependent on the workers, as it is not controlled by a central unit
CHARACTERISTICS OF A DECENTRALIZED SYSTEM
- It is free from the control of central authority/unit
- It hasten decision making process
- Equal responsibilities are delegated to each and every of it's members.
- It's operations are usually done in a random manner as no one is boss over the other.
- It supports the use of informal languages during operations
ADVANTAGES OF DECENTRALIZED SYSTEM
- The implementation of decentralization helps to ease the burden of top executives
- A decentralized system runs other transparency, that is, all activities done on a decentralized system is clearly seen by all.
- Another importance of a Decentralized system is its high Security level, which makes a blockchain impossible to hack.
- In a Decentralized system, all users enjoy equality, as no one is treated special to the other.
- Since Decentralized system are free from the control of the central unit, individual users can have access to their funds whenever they wish.
- One thing I love about decentralized system is the privacy attached to it, one cannot be queried for an action he performed on the system.
- A Decentralized system also helps to conceal the identity of it's users.
SCALABILITY
In a literal sense, scalability is the capability of a system to handle an increase in it's amount of work.
Relating scalability to the cryptoworld, it can be explained as the ability of a network to process multiple number of transactions at a time.
To properly understand what scalability entails, let's discuss little on the scalable attribute of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin smoothly operates at a maximum of seven transactions per second, and if the transactions should be increased above seven, all transactions will be queued and the network would be conjested.
Once this happens, the transaction with the greatest commission will be executed first, irrespective of when the order was placed.
Personally, I have experienced the issue of network congestion, and this was as a result of too much transactions on a network.
SECURITY
I believe that Security is the most important of the three concepts of the blockchain, of what use is the blockchain without appropriate security.
Without blockchain security, there will be lots of malicious activities going on on the network, and this will force many users our of the network.
A blockchain security is a complex risk management system, used in a blockchain to reduce the risk of fraud.
The blockchain is usually secured through the use of public and private keys.
The public keys serves as the wallet address, in which funds are sent to, it is also used to encrypt messages that can only be decrypted by the recipient.
The private keys are keys that decrypt already encrypted message and they are keys used to send funds out of an account.
The private keys are keys known and accessible only by the owner of an account.
Please, let's not tire out, shall we proceed to the last task of this interesting assignment
BASED ON YOUR KNOWLEDGE, EXPLAIN AT LEAST TWO VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE CHALLENGES POSED IN THE BLOCKCHAIN TRILEMMA
BASED ON YOUR KNOWLEDGE, EXPLAIN AT LEAST TWO VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE CHALLENGES POSED IN THE BLOCKCHAIN TRILEMMA
From my understanding, the challenge of the blockchain trilemma is the implementation of security, decentralization and scalability, all at once over a network.
To provide answer to the above question asked, I will be explaining the layer1 and layer2 solution based on my understanding.
The layer1 solution has to do with blockchain protocols as Bitcoin, litecoin, Ethereum, etc and has we know, this mentioned network has scalability as their challenge. This issue can be solved using the following:
- SHARDING:
Sharding happens to be the most popular layer1 solution.
The work of sharding is that it helps divides transactions into little data set known as shards.
Theses divided sets are then processed simultaneously by the network, thus giving chance for the processing of numerous transactions.
In the sharding technique, copies of information of every block is not stored by a single node in the network, instead they are divided amongst different nodes.
- CONSENSUS PROTOCOL:
The consensus protocol currently used by blockchain network as Bitcoin, litecoin is the Proof Of Work (POW), and this protocol, although secured, is lacking in scalability.
Like the example of Bitcoin explained earlier, that it can only function properly with with the maximum of seven transactions per second.
Due to the weakness of POW, many blockchain network has upgraded to the use of Proof Of Stake (POS) concensus mechanism.
Here, the validator status determined is based on stake on the blockchain network.
The second layer which is also known as lightning network is a solution that helps speed up transaction processes.
This process when applied to Bitcoin blockchain, will no doubt hasten it's transaction process.
This layer two solution does not emanate from the main blockchain, for this reason, it can be easily used to increase the rate of BTC transactions.
CONCLUSION
Indeed, as the world is advancing in it's technological development, we can be rest assured that the challenge of blockchain trilemma would be resolved.
And we can successfully have the three concepts fully implemented on a network.
I sincerely thank Prof @nane15 for this lecture, I look forward to learning from you Prof