blockchain, ethereum and polkadot
TRANSCRIPT
Living without Trust- or -
The whats and wherefores of
blockchain
Dr. Gavin Wood (@gavofyork, founder Ethereum, Parity)
Operation
Operation
CONTENTION
AUTHORITY
The old model
The new model
Blockchain solves the issue of multiparty contention without having to involve a human.
Blockchain solves the issue of multiparty contention without having to involve a human.
Trust is no longer needed to contentiously interact with a third-party.
Blockchain solves the issue of multiparty contention without having to involve a human.
Trust is no longer needed to contentiously interact with a third-party.
This is the first ever instance of a technology which can do such a thing.
Blockchain solves the issue of multiparty contention without having to involve a human.
Trust is no longer needed to contentiously interact with a third-party.
This is the first ever instance of a technology which can do such a thing.
Practically speaking, we have just commoditized the rarest and most delicate of all intangible assets: trust.
What is the Blockchain?
A Blockchain is...
A Byzantine-Fault-Tolerant decentralised singleton fixed-function state-transition
system
It’s a type of Computing Machine
SlowCode runs 5-100x slower that natively compiled
Expensive to useBasic computation, memory and storage costs are ~1950s levels
Not always immediately decisive(Trans-)Actions can sometimes be reorganised
Sounds. Awesome.
Actually, it is.
A Shared SingletonOne single computer among many
Cannot Break, Shut down or be CorruptedResistant to attack or coercion
UbiquitousNo special or costly hardware required for access
Verifiable & AuditableAll transactions recorded, archived and replayable. Always.
So, Bitcoin?
And Ethereum?
And Smart Contracts?
So, Bitcoin would be...
Why?
Compared to connection-poor siloes
Innovation Turbocharger
Walled Gardens
Interoperability DifficultReliability, standards, trust, security collude to make it a nightmare
Increased BarriersFor integrating multi-party, multi-domain systems
CumbersomeServers are expensive to set up and maintain;
Blockchain always-on, always ready
Not to mention Security
AuditabilityAll results are readily auditable from their inputs
SecurityFewer servers and databases to hack
AuthenticityAll interactions are cryptographically signed:
Unauthorised Interactions are Impossible
Ethereum
Platform for Reduced-trust Computingfor
identity managementsmart contracts
interoperable infrastructurepermissions management
auditability
Permissioned vs Permissionless
FasterManaged upkeep
Private membershipTrusted
Legal
SlowerPublic ownershipOpen & transparentTrust-freeAllegal
PoW vs PoS vs PoA
SlowerWastefulHardwareNo-finalityTrust-freeProvenCostly
FastestEfficient
SoftwareFinality
Trust-boundSafeFree
FasterEfficientSoftware
Finality (Possible)
Trust-freeUnprovenLess costly
What is Polkadot?
What does it provide?
Pooled securityall constituent chains of our community guaranteed
Trust-free transactionsconstituent chains can send transactions to each other
How does it work?
Relay-chainthe top-level which coordinates consensus and
transaction delivery between constituents
Parachainsconstituent chains which gather and process
transactions
Basics of the Relay-chain
No functionalityno external transactions, no smart contracts
Fees leviedfees paid for voting/movement of tokens between
parachains
Polkadot’s Relay-chain ensures that transactions between the constituent parachains get delivered and that they are all operating correctly.
Parachains can take any form of globally-coherent consensus system; potentially even another relay-chain. Enterprise-friendly encrypted, private, proof-of-authority chains are supported.
Bridges can exist to ferry transactions between the relay chain and existing, independent chains like Ethereum.
Extensible, Scalable and Flexible
Open parachains can be tightly integrated into Polkadot, using Polkadot’s validators to ensure their correct operation. They are the easiest and cheapest form of integration.
Closed parachains can be weakly integrated into Polkadot, giving them the freedom to manage validation internally e.g. using a set of recognised authorities.
Bridged chains can be integrated into Polkadot too. Bridges add complexity and cost to integration, but allow the chain to exercise its own means of consensus.
Polkadot network
Consortium parachain (EWF)
Authorities manage parachain validation, access controls &c.
Transactions andinter-chain consensus
PolkadotConnected consensus
@gavofyork @polkadotproject @polkadotnetworkgithub.com/polkadot-io gitter.im/polkadot-io/Lobby