Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S1W1 - My Favourite Blockchain Network by @victoh78

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Image made using canva

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Greetings friends , welcome to my blog today I would be attempting my 7th and final contest entry which talks about my favorites block chain, stay glued to your screens I promise to teach you something new.

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Block chain technology explained

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Block chain technology has been around for a while now since the early 90's but what is a Blochchain?

A blockchain : is a chain of interconnected network which contains a distributed ledger which is publicly opened to everyone on the Bloch chain (consensus).

Each block printed contains three key features

1. Data :the information which is stored within the block it could be anything from last transaction information, to the score of a football match.

2. Hash : this is more like a finger print it is used to identify a specific block and all of its content, each hash unique to a specific block and when a content is changed in the block so does the hash, hence it is difficult to tamper with any block on the chain.

3. Previous hash : with in each block there exist the hash of the previous block, this essentially lays the foundation for the block chain as the hashes are in a Chain based on time of creation.

4. Prove of work / stake / history : this are consensus mechanicalism employed on a block chain in order to deter tamparing of any block in the network.
   For Bitcoin it takes 10 minutes to validate a block

Having simplified the meaning of block chain I would no go into details to discuss my favourite block chain.

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Polka dot history and why It is my favourite ▫️◾

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Going by the rules of this contest I will be introducing you all to my favorites block chain polka dot.

Polkadot is a third generation block chain hoping to improve on the issues of generation 1 (btc) and generation 2(eth) blockchain.

It is a dynamic network which focuses of two main aspects interoperability and scalability(low gas fees) of network.

Polkadot is a dynamic blockchain network which Unites an entire network of different types of block chain into a single decentralised ecosystem, which it hopes to do with substrate.

Polka dot was created and founded by former etheruen cheif technical officer Gavin wood in 2016.

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Problems polka dot hopes to solve

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Problem 1
Before the creation of polka dot they had been Soo many other block chain which serve different functions, unique to their network such as banking, gaming, delivery and logistics and others.

Up until now protocol limitations has made the application of blockchain technology very limited this is seen for example using the consensus mechanicalism ( proof of work on btc) which takes 10 minutes to validate a block.

When there are large numbers of block to be validated it often slows the network down and causes high service charges such as btc service charge.

Problem 2
Another area or limitation for block chain technology is the interconnectedness of network, this is so because each block chain that arises comes up with its own new consensus mechanicalism hence this doesn't allow for interoperability.

Polka dot being a dynamic blockchain hopes to solve this problem by creating a heterogeneous multi chain network which is Bulit on relay mechanism and allows for the interconnectedness of various block chain network making blocking block chain interoperable, such as banking interacting with gaming and gaming interacting with finance to share information all within the polkadot network.

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Polka dot solution to these problems

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What is substrate ?

Substrate is kind of like an application used in the creation of blockchain. With substrate most of the coding function have already been done and are in templates with Thier functions, therefore when individuals want to make a block chain using substrate all they have to do is pick the functions they want and fine-tune it to their desired requirement such as business ideology.

This idea of using substrate is very welcoming as it enables users to created block chain very fast (-75% coding work) without compromising security, operability and scalability.

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By using substrate polka dot hopes to solve this problem

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Solution 1
By building your block chain on the substrate network it encourages interoperability this is because all blockchains on the substrate network would be able to communicate directly with one another as they are on the substrate network.

Additionally all the features needed to build a block chain can be found on substrate hence it drastically reduces the building time of block chain.

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Solution 2

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Polkadot hopes to increase scalability as the morw network that join the chain so does the network get faster through relay mechanism.

Short comings of polka dot

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The idea of interoperability seems to only work with does blockchains that are built on the polkadot network using substrate but what of those networks such as btc and steem which aren't built on the polka dot block chain does it mean that this that those Bloch chains would be left out of Thier plan.

If they are left out of the plan then polkadot hasn't really solved the problem of inoperability but rather it has own just created its own private network.

How polka dot address this problem
Polka dot so far has been able to address this concern through the creation of polka dot bridge which has linked the etheruen block chain to the polka dot network hence users on the substrate network can enjoy both the best features Ethereum and the innovation of dot.

Currently other bridges would be made in an attempt to link other crypto currencies such as btc, xrp and most importantly steem.

What do you think will make this network better

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Change 1

The process of being selected as a parachain
This process of selecting parachain is very tedious and often time it takes Alot of time and capital just as we have seen how long it took acala to become a parachain on the block chain.

This process has discouraged Alot initiatives.

Change 2

Polkadot being a revolutionary blockchain but presently they are lacking in the aspect of dapps as currently ethereum is leading followed by Solana.

In the coming years I would like to see polka dot so something about this to speed up the process of admitting more dapps and this dapps as this would. See them maintain Thier position in the top 10.

A project that is built on polkadot

Polkaswap is a 3rd generation liquidity pool decentralised exchange network used for swaping tokens on the parachains, block chains network connected via bride(eth) and polka dot network.

The company that developed polka swap is a Japanese based company known as SORAMITSU which was established in 2016.

Polkaswap was developed in 2020 and had a quite launch in April of 2021.

It promotes the main goals of polkadot which is interoperability across platforms.

Using polka swap individuals can easily swap and token for another and seeing as it is a DEX(decentralised exchange) you don't have to provide any form of identification before using it.

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My experience using polka swap

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At first I logged into the website I was greeted to the page above I then after decided to swap btc to steem, but to my surprise they wasn't btc on the exchange this then reminded me that polka swap, is used in swapping tokens on the polkadot network and those bridged network such as eth.

Seeing as btc and steem weren't available I therefore decided to swap with what was available to me.

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Leo to links

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I inputted to swap $50 link which due to current price was about $276 which the exchange calculated for me.

The exchange then calculated and the amount of links I would be getting in return, but I observed the price was considerably lower as I would be getting 18links which is worth $210 dollars.

The difference in price by -23% has been attributed to a slippage if _.5%.

Such service charge are high and I don't think I would be using polkaswap any time now.

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Conclusion

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Dot has always been my favourite block chains for a while when I discovered Thier super low service charge, but I hadn't really done a detailed anylsis of dot before now, but I just know I had to do this because I so much love and I understand what they are trying to do. During my research I learnt Soo much and I hope all those reading this learn one or two things too.

Thank you very much