@adamhand
2018-09-05T16:40:12.000000Z
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Everyone asks: is the world ready for Blockchain? But more importantly, is Blockchain ready for us?
Cowritten by Noam Levenson
2017 was the year that blockchain made its way into the mainstream’s consciousness. To the outside world, today’s hot topics are “is Bitcoin a bubble”, and “where can I get Ripple?” But people are missing the point. They’re missing the fundamental question that we should all be asking. I don’t believe that today’s focus should revolve around whether or not Bitcoin will still be around a few years from now. A more intriguing question is: “how will blockchain really change the world?” And even that question fails to consider whether the blockchains we have today can actually support these world changing applications. 2018 is set to be a defining year for Blockchain, with many projects set to release a working product or application, and a likely flood of newly converted institutional money. However, this exponentially growing market will continue to strongly highlight whether Blockchains can or could support a decentralised world.
In this piece, we’ll cover a handful of concepts and ideas and go into some technical aspects. I’ll try not to delve too deep into individual concepts, so feel free to research further any of the topics we cover.
Bitcoin was the first. It was exciting. Revolutionary. It was Steve Jobs in his basement, Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, the caveman harnessing fire. It was the first digitally scarce asset. It solved issues that had plagued developers for years. It is the foundation of this entirely new class of assets. However, just like most new, revolutionary developments, its tech is limited and focused solely on transactions. It’s like trying to develop a modern day application on Windows ’98. Not going to happen. Bitcoin currently is ONLY good as a store of value. And unless drastic scaling measures are taken, that won’t change.
If Bitcoin laid down the blueprints, Ethereum built the house. That house is the smart contract. Smart contracts (digital contracts) have opened up blockchain to a whole new world of possibility and development. Implementing smart contracts has given us the chance to revolutionise our world, cutting out middlemen, and allowing for trust in our digital world. Ethereum is the platform upon which dApps are developed, and the inception of dApps (and in turn ERC20 tokens) has birthed a new economy. Today, Ethereum hosts nearly 85% of all worthwhile projects, and uses its customisable blockchain as their foundation.
Ethereum has been very successful at assembling the industry’s most talented players. Vitalik and the Ethereum community pioneered the future of blockchain application. But with its first-mover advantage comes a few serious challenges. Take the “game-changing” technology of 2002’s Sidekick cellular phone. At the time, no teenager would’ve been caught dead without one of these in their pockets. Who would’ve thought that the first touchscreen would turn the Sidekick into a museum artifact. Not to say that Ethereum already belongs in the museum, but remember, a pack of digital cats repeatedly brought Ethereum to its knees.
Cryptokitties’ popularity exploded in early December and had the Ethereum network gasping for air. With a 465% increase in average transaction price between November 28 and December 12, this specific stretch of time was a definitive moment for the world of Blockchain. A limping and congested Ethereum network started to look a lot like an impossible dream in the eyes of some. Could the hype have been misplaced? Could Ethereum not be the ultimate solution for a truly decentralised world, for an “Internet 3.0”? The discussion shifted away from speculative fantasy towards whether or not Ethereum could really be a herald for the new world. At around the same time, not unsurprisingly, 3rd Gen blockchains started gaining traction. The remarkable run-ups of projects like EOS and Cardano is significant. They should definitely not go unnoticed. But we’ll explore that topic in length later on.
2017 was Year 1 on the mainstream blockchain calendar. 2017 saw a massive increase in the market. Incredible development amongst dApps. Innovative ideas solving some of our world’s biggest problems. The rising number of truly remarkable projects and platforms demonstrates an equal rise in the confidence and power of the smart contract. However, the community has also been struggling to implement a handful of these projects and actually put them to use. The most salient example of all is Ethereum. We saw quite clearly that the platform with the most proposed theoretical application (# of DApps) had no real way of implementing any of it on a large scale.
Now that we have some background, let’s zoom out for a moment:
The question on everyone’s mind is whether or not our society is “ready” to adopt blockchain. Concerns are rooted in society’s (mis)understanding of a rather technical and conceptually difficult idea. For this question, everyone and their mother has a different opinion. But the real question we should be asking is: “is blockchain ready for us.”
I understand that this question might be a little broad. I have broken it down into three other questions, which I think will help us answer the main one.
Ethereum clearly has some issues that many of the third generation platforms are trying to address — this is going to get a little technical, so bear with me. Ethereum’s main deficiency is its protocol. At the moment, Ethereum’s currency, ether, is mined using Proof of Work (PoW) — the same protocol used by Bitcoin.
Noam: With Proof of Work, computers on the network compete to solve mathematical formulas and win the right to confirm transactions into the blockchain, and thus, secure the network. The two major drawbacks to the PoW protocol is the danger of a 51% attack and the massive energy consumption required for network security. For these reasons, I think that PoW will soon be an outdated system, as blockchain transitions to a new protocol called Proof of Stake (PoS).
Proof of Stake works similarly to PoW except that instead of computers validating the network and receiving rewards equivalent to their relative computing power, PoS uses token holders. Those who hold tokens can “stake” their tokens (staking means to temporarily place the tokens in a locked smart contract — until staking is over) and in exchange, confirm transactions and receive rewards based on the relative number of tokens held. In PoW, if you operate 5% of the total computing power of the network, you can expect to get 5% of the block rewards. In PoS, if you own 5% of tokens, you can also expect to receive 5% of block rewards.
PoS offers a solution to the issues plaguing PoW — mainly it takes virtually no energy to run PoS — without compromising the security. I would argue that it actually improves security. With Ethereum, and all other PoW protocols, the difficulty algorithm (how hard it is to solve the mathematical formula) must constantly be updated to account for better computer hardware and more powerful mining groups. With PoS there is no need to do this. With Ethereum, you could conceivably purchase enough computing hardware to achieve a 51% attack; even after comprising the network, you would still have all of that hardware and could potentially use it to attack other PoW platforms. With PoS, because you must stake your coins, any malicious behavior results in the loss of all staked coins. So if you bought 51% of all tokens, you would immediately lose your substantial investment. In addition, the costs of purchasing 51% of the network tokens are equal for everyone. The costs of obtaining 51% of computer power — due to discounts for mass computer purchases and countries with extremely cheap electricity — are not.
Back to Lior: The architects of Ethereum are currently trying to transition its network to a PoS protocol. I believe this to be Ethereum’s only refuge if it is to stay relevant. Its current model just doesn’t offer the necessary foundations for an applicable ecosystem. For Ethereum to serve as the foundation for whole industries, a serious upgrade is needed. If the goal is Visa’s capacity for over 440,000 transactions per second, then the Ethereum Network’s meager 15 won’t cut it. Vitalik Buterin, the genius mind behind the first smart contract, is after a solution that would enable the network to be more than just a theoretical utopia.
To ensure Ethereum’s longevity in such a continuously evolving space, developers have offered a few answers:
The Raiden Network is an open source project that aims to serve as an off-chain network that facilitates transfers of Ethereum ERC 20 tokens. The Raiden Network utilises state channel technology, enabling off-chain transfers of on-chain tokens. Those transfers are performed by relaying a signed and stamped message directly from the two parties (of a transaction) while the main blockchain itself is not involved. Since only the two parties have access to the smart contract itself, the transfer itself is immune to double spending, making it as safe as an on-chain transaction. It enables the network to scale along with the number of users. This basically means that the more users there are in the network, the higher the throughput will be. The throughput is how fast the nodes can replicate a transaction, not the number of TPS. I believe that Raiden could potentially become a powerful layer for the Internet of Things (IoT) and a machine-to-machine ecosystem. Its creators compare the Raiden Network to a bank that would ensure that “once you receive a Raiden check from someone, you can be absolutely certain that this check is real and that you are now richer than you were moments ago.” So Raiden looks great on paper, but how far along are they? As of today, they are still in development with a working preview soon to be released. Thus, they are still far from implementing a final working solution. A stronger iteration of Raiden (which we’ll not get into on this piece), Raidos, is in planning, but is still not in development.
Sharding is another possible answer aimed at making Ethereum more than just a dream. Solutions such as Plasma (soon), and the Raiden Network are second-layer protocols, meaning they run off the main Ethereum chain. Sharding is tackling base-layer blockchain protocol architecture, meaning it applies directly to Ethereum’s main chain. This ultimately helps maintain a more decentralised network as sharding will require a smaller percentage of nodes to oversee and authorise every transaction, allowing for the network to potentially authorise thousands of transactions simultaneously. The architects of Ethereum are certain that Sharding, along with Layer 2 protocols such as the Raiden Network, will work in conjunction in order to make Ethereum more supportive of a smart economy. The real issue with Ethereum’s consensus is that every node needs to verify each transaction, slowing the network considerably. The aim for Ethereum is to scale to thousands of transactions per second in the near future, on-chain, without master nodes or any other conditions that would hinder its decentralisation. Vitalik Buterin believes that is a part of the solution for Ethereum’s improved scalability. He says the concept of sharding is similar to having hundreds of similar, yet unique universes. These are separate blockchains that connect to share consensus. Interfering with one of those “worlds” would mean interfering with all of the “world” sharing consensus and authorisation power. Sharding is essentially creating a new “world,” and many more, without it affecting the main-chain.
An example that helped me understand the concept of Sharding without getting into too much technical detail: Imagine that three nodes A, B, C, have to verify data T. Instead of each node verifying all of the data, data T is broken into 3 shards: T1, T2, T3. Instead of individually authorising the entire data T, nodes A,B,C verify each shard simultaneously in order to facilitate the verification of the data — reducing latency.