Category: Blockchain

What is DeFi?

What is DeFi?

DeFi, or decentralized finance, is a blockchain-based financial system capable of stripping out traditional financial middlemen such as banks, brokerages, and exchanges.

It makes use of smart contracts to enable users to lend or borrow funds from others, bet on price fluctuations on a variety of assets using derivatives, insure against risks, and earn interest in savings-like accounts.

Because of it nature, a government-issued ID, social security number, or proof of address are not required. DeFi allows buyers, sellers, lenders, and borrowers to interact with one another or with a strictly software-based middleman rather than with a company or institution that facilitates a transaction.

To achieve the aim of decentralization, a variety of technologies and protocols are employed. A decentralized system, for example, might be made up of open-source technology, blockchain, and proprietary software. These financial products are made feasible by smart contracts, which automate agreement terms between buyers and sellers or lenders and borrowers. DeFi solutions, regardless of the technology or platform employed, are intended to eliminate middlemen between transacting parties.

Decentralized finance makes use of technology to disintermediate centralized models and enable the delivery of financial services to anybody, regardless of race, age, or cultural identity.

It lowers the barrier to admission.

Simultaneously, DeFi applications provide consumers more control over their money through personal wallets and trading platforms that cater to individual users rather than institutions.

How does it work?

DeFi provides services without the need of intermediaries by utilizing cryptocurrency and smart contracts. In today’s financial environment, financial institutions serve as transaction guarantors. Because your money flows through them, this gives these institutions enormous influence. Furthermore, billions of individuals throughout the world do not have access to a bank account.

A smart contract substitutes the financial institution in the transaction in DeFi. When a smart contract is live, no one can change it; it will always execute as planned. Smart contracts are also open to the public for inspection and auditing. As a result, defective contracts are frequently scrutinized by the community. This does imply that there is now a need to rely on more technical members of the community who can understand code. The open-source community helps keep developers in check, but this requirement will fade as smart contracts become simpler to comprehend and alternative methods of proving code’s integrity are created.

Main elements

There are certain DeFi “building blocks” that create a software stack, with every layer building upon another. These layers work together to create DeFi and its related applications that serve users in a variety of different ways. If one layer is off, so are the other layers.

The five layers that make up DeFi include:

1. Settlement: Foundational layer of the blockchain and its specific native asset. This layer provides security and a set of rules to follow.

2. Asset: Refers to all the tokens and digital assets that are native to the blockchain.

3. Protocol: Sets the protocols or guidelines for smart contracts.

4. Application: Brings the protocols to life with a user interface that is consumer-facing.

5. Aggregation: Consists of aggregators that connect the various dApps and protocols which make up the foundation for borrowing, lending on and other financial services.

Advantages and disadvantages

  • Decentralization: It is difficult to censor or stamp out, but it does need some heavy-duty computer. Maintaining a database and records over a network of numerous computers slows things down and increases the cost of transactions.
  • No intermediaries: There is no need for a third party to safeguard the assets. That means you don’t have to worry about a financial institution failing and taking your tokens with it — or about the government seizing and confiscating your tokens. On the other side, you and your passcode are the only things keeping your assets secure. If you lose (or someone steals) your passcode, your valuables are gone for forever.
  • Available to anyone: Without typical financial credentials such as identification or a credit score, you may be able to obtain a loan or exchange virtual currency. That openness promises to bring financial services to sections of the world where they haven’t always been available, or where they are prohibitively expensive or prone to fraud or confiscation. However, the disadvantage is obvious: if nobody is keeping track of who is utilizing a service or where they are situated, the systems might be utilized by criminals or run counter to penalties. The regulatory crackdown is already in effect.

Applications

  • Send money around the world quickly: Because blockchain technology is used, money may be moved in a safe and worldwide manner.
  • Borrowing: Borrowing money from decentralized providers comes in two main varieties.
  1. Peer-to-peer, meaning a borrower will borrow directly from a specific lender.
  2. Pool-based where lenders provide funds (liquidity) to a pool that borrowers can borrow from.
  • Lending: You can earn interest on your crypto by lending it and see your funds grow in real time.
  • Access to global funds: When you utilize a decentralized lender, you have access to funds deposited from all over the world, not simply those held by your selected bank or institution. This increases the availability of loans and lowers interest rates.
  • Stable coins: Volatility in cryptocurrencies is a concern for many financial products and ordinary spending. Stablecoins have been developed by the DeFi community to address this issue. Their value is fixed to another asset, generally a prominent currency such as the US dollar.
  • Grow your portfolio: There are fund management products that will try to grow your portfolio based on a strategy of your choice. This is automatic, open to everyone, and doesn’t need a human manager taking a cut of your profits.
  • Advanced trading: For traders who like a bit more control, there are more complicated alternatives. Limit orders, perpetual orders, leveraged trading, and more options are available. Decentralized trading gives you access to global liquidity, the market never closes, and you always have complete control over your assets. When you utilize a centralized exchange, you must deposit your assets prior to the deal and rely on them to protect them. Your funds are at danger while they are deposited because centralized exchanges are appealing targets for hackers.
  • Exchange tokens: Decentralized exchanges let you trade different tokens whenever you want. You never give up control of your assets. This is like using a currency exchange when visiting a different country. But the DeFi version never closes. The markets are 24/7, 365 days a year and the technology guarantees there will always be someone to accept a trade.
  • Insurance: The goal of decentralized insurance is to make insurance more affordable, faster to pay out, and more transparent. With more automation, coverage becomes very inexpensive and payouts become much faster. The information utilized to make a decision on your claim is totally transparent. Bugs and exploits are possible, like with any program. So, for the time being, many insurance products in the market are focused on safeguarding their customers from financial loss. However, programs are being launched to provide coverage for all life may throw at us. People who are typically priced out of standard insurance might benefit from decentralized insurance.

Final thoughts

DeFi is a vast financial ecosystem that aims to eliminate the intermediary and enable financial transactions between users. There is now a lot of buzz about DeFi and cryptocurrency. If you wish to participate, be sure you understand not just the benefits but also the hazards before you begin.

What is a dApp?

What is a dApp?

A dApp, or decentralized application, is a software program similar to any other software application. It might be a website or a mobile app, but the essential distinction is that they are based on a decentralized network, such as blockchain. This means that no single entity has control over the network.

A smart contract and a frontend user interface are combined in dApps.

For instance, when you write a smart contract on Ethereum, you are really creating backend code for your dApp, and while your dApp will have a user interface like a regular app, either all or part of the backend is built on top of Ethereum.

dApp = frontend + smart contract backend

Advantages

Many of the exciting aspects are center around ability to safeguard user privacy.

  • Censorship-resistant: It is extremely difficult for governments or powerful individuals to manage the network since there is no single point of failure. Proponents of free expression point out that dApps can be created as alternatives to social media sites. Because no single member on the blockchain can remove or stop messages from being uploaded, a decentralized social media network would be impervious to censorship.-
  • No downtime: Using a peer-to-peer approach ensures that the dApps continue to function even if individual machines or sections of the network fail.
  • Open source: This encourages the widespread development of the dApp ecosystem enabling developers to build better dApps with more useful of interesting functions.

Disadvantages

While dApps promise to address many of the major issues that plague traditional programs, they do have certain drawbacks.

  • Early stages: The use of dApps is currently experimental and subject to several challenges and unknowns.
  • Hackers: As many are run on open-source smart contracts, it allows hackers the rare opportunity to probe the networks looking for weaknesses.
  • Usability: The ability to develop a user-friendly interface is another concern. A lot of dApps have poor user-interfaces.
  • Update: Another restriction of dApps is the difficulty of modifying code. Once launched, a dApp will almost certainly require continuing updates to provide additions or to repair bugs or security threats. According to Ethereum, developers may find it difficult to make necessary upgrades to dApps since the data and code broadcast to the blockchain are difficult to edit.

Closing Thoughts

The “cryptoverse” has expanded dramatically since the birth of Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency. The ability to store data in a decentralized manner was a crucial prelude to the decentralization of code execution. With Ethereum, smart contracts may now be deployed all around the world to power the backend of present and future dApps. And as more dApps are released, we’ll move closer to a more free, fair, and accessible internet.

What is Proof of Work (PoW)?

What is Proof of Work?

Proof of work, commonly abbreviated as PoW is the oldest method of consensus. A consensus algorithm is, in general, a decision-making process within a group.

A PoW algorithm works in such a way that nodes within a network proves to others (the verifiers) that a certain amount of a specific computational effort has been expended. Verifiers can subsequently confirm this expenditure with minimal effort on their part.

The goal of PoW algorithms is not to prove that specific work was done or that a computational issue was “solved”, but to discourage data modification by imposing high energy and hardware-control requirements.

Origin

Cynthia Dwork and Moni Naor introduced the notion in 1993 as a technique to combat denial-of-service (DOS) attacks and other service abuses such as spam on a network by requiring some work from a service requester, often processing time by a computer.

Markus Jakobsson and Ari Juels invented and standardized the term “proof of work” in a 1999 publication. PoW was later popularized by Bitcoin as the basis for consensus in a permissionless decentralized network in which miners compete to add blocks and mint new money, with each miner having a success probability proportionate to the computing effort exerted.

Why is PoW necessary?

The problem with a blockchain, such as Bitcoin, is to keep an agreed-upon transaction record in the absence of a central authority. So, the main challenge is how a group of peers with comparable status can agree on who should be permitted to contribute to the shared record. PoW is how miners (block publishers) demonstrate to the rest of the world that they have put in the effort required to construct a well-formed block of transactions to add to the blockchain.

PoW is significant because it provides evidence of confidence in a trustless environment.

This protocol ensures that excessive mining does not occur. This is accomplished by increasing the complexity of confirming each block.

It preserves the cryptocurrency’s supply while also assisting miners in keeping the network operational. At the same time, it makes use of limited resources such as time, processing power, and energy.

How does the PoW work?

The working of PoW protocol can be summarized in brief as follows

  1. The transactions are bundled together into units generally known as blocks.
  2. The transactions within each block are verified for legitimacy by the miners.
  3. A mathematical puzzle known as the proof-of-work problem has to be solved by the miners to account for verification.
  4. The first miner who solves each block problem is being rewarded.
  5. Then the verified transactions are stored in the public blockchain.

Benefits

There are several advantages to using PoW systems. They are an excellent method of discouraging spammers. If a fair amount of effort is required for each procedure, such as sending an email, most spammers will not have the processing power to send a significant number of unwanted emails.

Furthermore, PoW frameworks may be utilized to safeguard a whole network. This is the key benefit of blockchains that use a consensus approach for PoW. If enough nodes compete to discover a certain solution, the processing power necessary to overwhelm and dominate a network becomes unattainable for any one bad actor or even a single group of bad actors.

Limitations

  • Huge expenditures: There is a need for specialized computer hardware to run complicated algorithms for mining. The cost is also high and not affordable. In addition, the special mining pools need a massive amount of power to run, which further alleviates the cost.
  • The uselessness of computations: There is a lot of power required for the machines to generate a block by the miners. however, their estimates are not valid anywhere else, such as a company, science, or others.
  • 51% attack: A 51% attack is a PoW attack by the majority of the group of users, who controls the majority of the mining power. The attackers come in complete power, where they can monopolize by creating blocks and receive rewards.

Conclusion

The initial answer to the problem of double-spending was PoW, which has shown to be accurate and successful.

In the PoW, all miners are expected to compute a difficult sum. The winner is also selected by the individual who possesses the most hardware gadgets.

However, there are several flaws with the PoW method that must be addressed. This contains the quantity of energy required, the present concentration of power in mining pools, and the hazards of a 51 percent attack. The winner is also chosen by who possesses the most hardware equipment.

What is a Smart Contract?

What is a Smart Contract?

Smart contracts are essentially programs, recorded on a blockchain, that run when certain criteria are satisfied. They are often used to automate the implementation of an agreement so that all participants are instantly confident of the outcome, without the participation of an intermediary or the waste of time.

Smart contracts allow trustworthy transactions and agreements to be carried out between disparate, anonymous individuals without the requirement for a centralized authority, legal system, or external enforcement mechanism.

While blockchain technology has come to be thought of primarily as the foundation for Bitcoin​, it has evolved far beyond underpinning the virtual currency.

Origin

Smart contracts were first proposed in 1994 by Nick Szabo, a computer scientist who invented a virtual currency called “Bit Gold” in 1998. Szabo defined smart contracts as computerized transaction protocols that execute terms of a contract. He wanted to extend the functionality of electronic transaction methods, such as point of sale (POS), to the digital realm.

Many of Szabo’s predictions in the paper came true in ways preceding blockchain technology. For example, derivatives trading is now mostly conducted through computer networks using complex term structures.

How smart contracts work?

Smart contracts operate by executing basic “if/when…then…” statements typed into code on a blockchain. When preset circumstances are met and validated, a network of computers conducts the activities. These activities might include transferring payments to the proper parties, registering a vehicle, providing alerts, or issuing a ticket. When the transaction is completed, the blockchain is updated. This implies that the transaction cannot be modified, and the results are only visible to persons who have been granted permission.

Participants must agree on the “if/when…then…” rules that govern those transactions, investigate any conceivable exceptions, and create a framework for resolving disputes in order to set the terms.

Finally the smart contract can be coded by a developer; however, firms that use blockchain for business are increasingly providing templates, web interfaces, and other online tools to facilitate smart contract construction.

Advantages of Smart contracts

  • Speed, efficiency and accuracy: When a condition is satisfied, the contract is instantly executed. Because smart contracts are digital and automated, there is no paperwork to handle, and no time wasted correcting errors that frequently occur when filling out forms manually.
  • Security: Blockchain transaction records are encrypted, making them extremely difficult to hack. Furthermore, because each record on a distributed ledger is linked to the preceding and subsequent entries, hackers would have to modify the entire chain to change a single record.
  • Trust and transparency: There is no need to question if information has been manipulated for personal gain because there is no third party engaged and encrypted records of transactions are transmitted between participants.
  • Savings: Smart contracts eliminate the need for middlemen to conduct transactions, as well as the time delays and fees that come with them.

Future

For the time being, the most significant hurdle to widespread smart contract use is scalability. Processing data for thousands of internet firms would need a substantial amount of processing power. And capacity and speed are restricted on Ethereum. However, the future of blockchain is only around the corner. Capacity and speed appear to be no longer a problem as initiatives like the Internet of Things (IOTA) and the Internet of Services (IOST) show promising outcomes. This might imply that whole decentralized businesses function on smart contract technology, processing payments, moving assets, and managing day-to-day operations in a safe and distributed manner. Gartner, a research firm, definitely believes so. According to their annual report, smart contracts will be employed in more than 25% of worldwide businesses by 2022. It might be time to start thinking about how smart contracts could help your company.

What is Blockchain?

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a system of recording information.

Technically speaking, it is a distributed database shared between the nodes of the network mainly through internet. As a database, stores information electronically in digital format.

One key difference between a typical database and a blockchain is how the data is structured. A database usually structures its data into tables, whereas a blockchain, like its name implies, structures its data into chunks, called blocks.

This data structure inherently makes an irreversible timeline of data when implemented in a decentralized nature. When a block is filled, it is set in stone and becomes a part of this timeline. Each block in the chain is given an exact timestamp when it is added to the chain.

Cryptography is used to connect the blocks. A cryptographic hash of the preceding block, a timestamp, and transaction data are all included in each block. The timestamp verifies that the transaction data was there at the moment the block was released, allowing it to be hashed. Because each block contains information about the previous block, they create a chain, with each new block strengthening the previous ones.

As a result, blockchains are resistant to data tampering since the data in any one block, once recorded, cannot be changed retrospectively without affecting all subsequent blocks.

The innovation with a blockchain is that it guarantees the fidelity and security of a record of data and generates trust without the need for a trusted third party.

Origin

Blockchain technology was first outlined in 1991 by Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, two mathematicians who wanted to implement a system where document time stamps could not be tampered with. In the late 1990s, cypherpunk Nick Szabo proposed using a blockchain to secure a digital payments system, known as bit gold (which was never implemented).

How does blockchain work?

The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited. In this way, a blockchain is the foundation for immutable ledgers, or records of transactions that cannot be altered, deleted, or destroyed. Therefore, blockchains are also known as a distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Private vs public blockchain

A public blockchain, also known as an open or permissionless blockchain, is one where anybody can join the network freely and establish a node. Because of its open nature, these blockchains must be secured with cryptography and a consensus system like proof of work (PoW).

A private or permissioned blockchain, on the other hand, requires each node to be approved before joining. Because nodes are trusted, the layers of security do not need to be as robust.

Uses

Blockchain technology can be integrated into multiple areas. The primary use of blockchains is as a distributed ledger for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin; there were also a few other operational products which had matured from proof of concept by late 2016.

  • Cryptocurrencies: Most cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology to record transactions.
  • Smart contracts: Blockchain-based smart contracts are proposed contracts that can be partially or fully executed or enforced without human interaction. One of the main objectives of a smart contract is automated escrow. A key feature of smart contracts is that they do not need a trusted third party to act as an intermediary between contracting entities -the blockchain network executes the contract on its own. This may reduce friction between entities when transferring value and could subsequently open the door to a higher level of transaction automation.
  • Financial services: Many banks have expressed interest in implementing distributed ledgers for use in banking and are cooperating with companies creating private blockchains.
  • Anti-counterfeiting: Blockchain could be used in detecting counterfeits by associating unique identifiers to products, documents and shipments, and storing records associated to transactions that cannot be forged or altered. It is however argued that blockchain technology needs to be supplemented with technologies that provide a strong binding between physical objects and blockchain systems.
  • Healthcare: In response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ernst & Young was working on a blockchain to help employers, governments, airlines and others keep track of people who have had antibody tests and could be immune to the virus. Hospitals and vendors also utilized a blockchain for needed medical equipment.

Advantages of blockchain

  • Accuracy of the chain: Transactions on the blockchain network are approved by a network of thousands of computers. This removes almost all human involvement in the verification process, resulting in less human error and an accurate record of information. Even if a computer on the network were to make a computational mistake, the error would only be made to one copy of the blockchain. For that error to spread to the rest of the blockchain, it would need to be made by at least 51% of the network’s computers
  • Decentralization: Blockchain does not store any of its information in a central location. Instead, the blockchain is copied and spread across a network of computers. Whenever a new block is added to the blockchain, every computer on the network updates its blockchain to reflect the change. By spreading that information across a network, rather than storing it in one central database, blockchain becomes more difficult to tamper with. If a copy of the blockchain fell into the hands of a hacker, only a single copy of the information, rather than the entire network, would be compromised.
  • Cost Reductions: Typically, consumers pay a bank to verify a transaction, a notary to sign a document, or a minister to perform a marriage. Blockchain eliminates the need for third-party verification — and, with it, their associated costs
  • Immutable: Any validated records are irreversible and cannot be changed.
  • Anonymous: The identity of participants is either anonymous or pseudonymous.
  • Efficient transactions: Transactions placed through central authority can take up to few days to settle. If you attempt to deposit a check on Friday evening, for example, you may not actually see funds in your account until Monday morning. Whereas financial institutions operate during business hours, usually five days a week, blockchain is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year.

Disadvantages of blockchain

  • Technology cost: Although blockchain can save users money on transaction fees, the technology is far from free. For example, the PoW system, which the Bitcoin network uses to validate transactions, consumes vast amounts of computational power. In the real world, the power from the millions of computers on the Bitcoin network is close to what Denmark consumes annually.
  • Speed and data inefficiency: Bitcoin is a perfect case study for the possible inefficiencies of blockchain. Bitcoin’s Pow system takes about 10 minutes to add a new block to the blockchain. At that rate, it’s estimated that the blockchain network can only manage about seven transactions per second, (TPS). Legacy brand Visa, for context, can process 24,000 TPS.
  • Illegal activity: While confidentiality on the blockchain network protects users from hacks and preserves privacy, it also allows for illegal trading and activity on the blockchain network.

What is Ethereum?

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is an open-source decentralized blockchain-based platform that allows individuals to conduct transactions and draw up contracts.

It has its own cryptocurrency, called Ether, and its own programming language, called Solidity.

As a blockchain network, Ethereum is a decentralized public ledger for verifying and recording transactions. The network’s users can create, publish, monetize, and use applications on the platform.

The most fascinating aspect of Ethereum is that the code published on its blockchain cannot be changed, modified, or hacked.

It is a decentralized programmable blockchain-based software platform, not simply a blockchain.

Ethereum was established in the summer of 2015 with the goal of broadening the spectrum of blockchain and cryptocurrency applications beyond Bitcoin’s initial scope, including permissionless financial services, crowdfunding, and new organizational structures.

Origin

Ethereum was initially described in a white paper by Vitalik Buterin, a programmer, in late 2013 with a goal of building decentralized applications.

Buterin argued to the bitcoin core developers that Bitcoin and blockchain technology could benefit from applications other than money, and that a more robust language for application development was needed, which could lead to the blockchain being used to store real-world assets like stocks and property. He recommended the construction of a new platform with a more sophisticated programming language, which would later become Ethereum, after failing to reach agreement on how the project should proceed.

Formal development of the software began in early 2014 through a Swiss company. The basic idea of putting executable smart contracts in the blockchain needed to be specified before the software could be implemented.

Several codenamed prototypes of Ethereum were developed over 18 months in 2014 and 2015 by the Ethereum Foundation as part of their proof-of-concept series.

In July 2015, “Frontier” marked the official launch of the Ethereum platform as Ethereum created its “genesis block.”

Since the initial launch, Ethereum has undergone several planned protocol upgrades, which are important changes affecting the underlying functionality and/or incentive structures of the platform.

After the Constantinople upgrade on 28 February 2019, there were two network upgrades made within a month late in the year: Istanbul on 8 December 2019 and Muir Glacier on 2 January 2020.

There have been two network upgrades in 2021. The first was the Berlin upgrade, implemented on 14 April 2021. The second was London, which took effect on 5 August. The London upgrade included Ethereum Improvement Proposal (“EIP”) 1559, which introduced a mechanism for reducing transaction fee volatility. The mechanism causes a portion of the Ether paid in transaction fees each block to be destroyed rather than given to the miner, reducing the inflation rate of Ether and potentially resulting in periods of deflation.

How does Ethereum work?

You might have heard that the Bitcoin blockchain is a lot like a bank’s ledger, or even a checkbook. It’s a running tally of every transaction made on the network going back to the very beginning — and all the computers on the network contribute their computing power towards the work of ensuring that the tally is accurate and secure.

The Ethereum blockchain, on the other hand, is more like a computer: while it also does the work of documenting and securing transactions, it’s much more flexible than the Bitcoin blockchain. Developers can use the Ethereum blockchain to build a huge variety of tools — everything from logistics management software to games to the entire universe of decentralized applications (which span lending, borrowing, trading, and more).

Ethereum uses a virtual machine to achieve all this, which is like a giant, global computer made up of many individual computers running the Ethereum software. Keeping all of those computers running involves investment in both hardware and electricity by participants. To cover those costs, the network uses its own cryptocurrency, Ether (or, more commonly, ETH).

ETH keeps the whole thing running. You interact with the Ethereum network by using ETH to pay the network to execute smart contracts. As a result, the fees paid in ETH are called “gas”.

Use cases

  • Decentralized finance (DeFi): An open and global financial system built for the internet age — an alternative to a system that’s opaque, tightly controlled, and held together by decades-old infrastructure and processes. It gives you control and visibility over your money. It gives you exposure to global markets and alternatives to your local currency or banking options. DeFi products open up financial services to anyone with an internet connection and they’re largely owned and maintained by their users. So far tens of billions of dollars worth of crypto has flowed through DeFi applications and it’s growing every day.
  • Non-fungible tokens (NFTs): Tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique items. They let us tokenise things like art, collectibles, even real estate. They can only have one official owner at a time and they’re secured by the Ethereum blockchain — no one can modify the record of ownership or copy/paste a new NFT into existence. NFTs and Ethereum solve some of the problems that exist in the internet today. As everything becomes more digital, there’s a need to replicate the properties of physical items like scarcity, uniqueness, and proof of ownership. Not to mention that digital items often only work in the context of their product.
  • Decentralized autonomous organisations (DAOs): Think of them like an internet-native business that’s collectively owned and managed by its members. They have built-in treasuries that no one has the authority to access without the approval of the group. Decisions are governed by proposals and voting to ensure everyone in the organization has a voice. There’s no CEO who can authorize spending based on their own whims and no chance of a dodgy CFO manipulating the books. Everything is out in the open and the rules around spending are baked into the DAO via its code.

Advantages of Ethereum

Aside from decentralization and anonymity, Ethereum also has various other benefits, such as a lack of censorship. For example, if someone tweets something offensive, Twitter can choose to take it down and punish that user. However, on an Ethereum-based social media platform, that can only happen if the community votes to do it. That way, users with different viewpoints can discuss as they see fit, and the people can decide what should and shouldn’t be said.

Community requirements also prevent bad actors from taking over. Someone with ill intentions would need to control 51% of the network to make a change, which is nearly impossible in most cases. It’s much safer than a simple server that can be broken into.

It’s also getting easier than ever before to acquire Ether. Companies like PayPal and its Venmo subsidiary support purchasing crypto with fiat currency right within the application. Considering the millions of customers on each platform, they’re bound to get involved sooner rather than later.

Disadvantages of Ethereum

While it sounds like the perfect platform, Ethereum has a few key issues that need to be worked out.

The first is scalability. Buterin envisioned Ethereum the way the web is now, with millions of users interacting at once. Due to the PoW consensus algorithm, however, such interaction is limited by block validation times and gas fees. Furthermore, decentralization is a hindrance. A central entity, like Visa, manages everything and has perfected the transaction process.

Second, there is accessibility. As of the time of writing, Ethereum is expensive to develop on and challenging to interact with for users unfamiliar with its technology. Some platforms require specific wallets, which means that one must move ETH from their current wallet to the required wallet. That’s an unnecessary step for users ingrained in our current financial ecosystem and not beginner-friendly in the slightest.

Sure, PayPal is adding crypto support, but users can’t do much aside from holding it there. The platform needs to integrate with DeFi and DApps to increase accessibility in a meaningful way.

The platform does have some well-written documentation on the matter — another key way to bring in more users. But the act of actually using Ethereum needs streamlining. Learning about blockchain is very different from using it.

What is Bitcoin?

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency created in January 2009. It promises reduced transaction costs than standard online payment channels and, unlike government-issued currencies, is controlled by a decentralized authority.

Bitcoin employs peer-to-peer technology to function without a central authority or banks; the network manages transactions and issues bitcoins collectively.

Bitcoin is open-source, it means that its design is available to the public, no one owns or controls it, and everyone may participate.

In practice, bitcoin is a type of digital money that exists independently of any government, state, or financial institution, can be transmitted internationally without the need for a centralized intermediary, and has a known monetary policy that is arguably unchangeable.

There are no physical bitcoins; rather balances are recorded on a public ledger that everyone can see, although each record is encrypted.

A large amount of computational power is used to verify all bitcoin transactions, this process is known as mining. Bitcoin is neither issued or guaranteed by any banks or governments, nor is it worth anything as a commodity.

The bitcoin system is comprised on a network of computers (also known as nodes) that all execute bitcoin’s code and store its blockchain. A blockchain may be seen metaphorically as a collection of blocks, each block contains a set of transactions. No one can trick the system since all the machines running the blockchain have the same list of blocks and transactions and can observe these new blocks as they’re filled with fresh bitcoin transactions.

Bitcoin token balances are maintained using public and private “keys”, which are lengthy strings of numbers and characters connected by the mathematical encryption method that generates them.

The public key (like a bank account number) acts as the address that is made public and to which others may transfer bitcoin.

The private key (similar to an ATM PIN) is designed to be kept private and is only used to approve bitcoin transactions.

Bitcoin keys are not to be confused with a bitcoin wallet, which is a physical or digital device that facilitates bitcoin trade and allows users to track coin ownership. Because bitcoin is decentralized, it is never held “in” a wallet, but rather distributed on a blockchain.

Origin

Bitcoin is based on the ideas laid out in a 2008 whitepaper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.

The article described how to “allowing any two willing parties to deal directly with each other without the necessity for a trusted third party”.

The technology used solved the “double spend” problem, allowing for the first time in the digital world scarcity.

The bitcoin network’s initial growth was mostly driven by its usability as a revolutionary mechanism of exchanging value in the digital realm. Early supporters were mostly “cypherpunks”, or those who supported the employment of strong encryption and privacy-enhancing technology as a means of effecting social and political change.

However, speculation over bitcoin’s future worth quickly became a big motivator of adoption.

Mining

Mining is the process of releasing bitcoin into circulation. In general, entails solving computationally complex riddles to discover a new block, which is then added to the blockchain. Bitcoin mining adds and validates transaction records throughout the network.

Miners are rewarded with bitcoins, which is half every 210,000 blocks. In 2009, the block reward was set at 50 new bitcoins. On May 11, 2020, the third halving happened, reducing the reward for each block discovery to 6.25 bitcoins.

To mine bitcoin, a variety of hardware may be utilized. Some, however, provide greater benefits than others. Certain computer chips, known as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), as well as more complex processing units, such as graphic processing units (GPUs), can reap more benefits. These complex mining processors are referred to as “mining rigs.”

One bitcoin may be divided to eight decimal places (100 millionths of a bitcoin), and the lowest unit is known as a Satoshi.

How Many Bitcoins Are There?

The maximum amount of bitcoins that will ever be generated is 21 million, with the final bitcoin mined around the year 2140. More than 18.85 million (almost 90%) of the bitcoins had been mined as of November 2021. Furthermore, analysts believe that up to 20% of those bitcoins were “lost” as a result of someone forgetting their private key, dying without leaving access instructions, or transmitting bitcoins to invalid addresses.

Basic features

  • Decentralized: The bitcoin network is not controlled or owned by anyone, and there is no CEO. Instead, the network is made up of consenting individuals who follow the rules of a protocol (which takes the form of an open-source software client). Changes to the protocol must be approved by the protocol’s users, and there is a diverse range of contributing voices, including nodes, end users, developers, and adjacent industry participants such as exchanges, wallet providers, and custodians. As a result, Bitcoin is a quasi-political system.
  • Transparent: According to the protocol’s principles, the addition of new transactions to the blockchain record and the status of the Bitcoin network at any given moment is reached by agreement and in a transparent way.
  • Distributed: All Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a public ledger known as the “blockchain”. The network is based on volunteers keeping copies of the ledger and operating the bitcoin protocol software. These nodes help to ensure that transactions are correctly propagated over the network by adhering to the protocol rules as established by the software client.
  • Peer-to-peer (P2P): Although nodes maintain and disseminate the network’s state (the “truth”), payments are made directly from one person or organization to another. This eliminates the requirement for a “trusted third party” to operate as an intermediary.
  • Censorship resistant: Because all bitcoin transactions that adhere to the protocol’s rules are legitimate, transactions are pseudo-anonymous, and users own the ‘key’ to their bitcoin holdings, it is impossible for authorities to prohibit individuals from using it or take their assets. This has significant consequences for economic freedom and may potentially operate as a worldwide counterforce to dictatorship.
  • Permissionless: Anyone may use bitcoin; there are no gatekeepers, and no ‘Bitcoin account’ is required. The network will confirm all transactions that adhere to the protocol’s requirements using the established consensus procedures.
  • Fixed supply: One of the major characteristics is that the supply would gradually increase to a total of 21 million coins. This fixed and known total quantity, it is said, qualifies bitcoin as a ‘hard asset,’ one of numerous features that have led to its perceived value as an investment.
Patricio Aguirre
Proactive Computer Engineer - Blockchain Enthusiast & Crypto Learner