Blockchain Trilemma - Crypto Academy / S5W2 - Homework post for nane15
Hello everyone, how are you all doing? I welcome you all to my blog, I'm here to talk about Crypto Academy S5W2 Assignment which is about Blockchain Trilemma, the course was taken by professor @nane15. Do stay with us!!!
Question 1
Explain in your own words what the Blockchain Trilemma is.
Blockchain Trilemma
Blockchain Trilemma is a concept that was designed by Vitalik Buterin, whose idea is to solve the issue all blockchain developers faced when developing a *Blockchain, which is a way to build a blockchain that has all the three main functions which are scalability, decentralized and security.
And from the research so far shows that it is quite hard for a blockchain developer to build a blockchain system that has all three functions, which at the end of the day makes the developer sacrifice one of the three functions to have a stable network.
The three functions which are scalability, decentralization, security always work hand in hand which always makes the blockchain system become an impenetrable fortress, where it becomes almost impossible for hackers to hack into the system, also it makes it impossible for a third party to interfere with any transaction that occurs in the system.
And to understand the Blockchain Trilemma better we have to know more about these three functions.
Scalability: In blockchain development, scalability helps the system to support more transactions, also helps the system to have a very large number of users who can make transactions with minimal time requirements, scalability is one of the main functions all developers had problems with because it is very hard to build a system that supports thousands of users making transactions at the same time without the system lagging.
Security: Security is also a very important concept to look out for when building a blockchain because with a strong security system, the blockchain will not be easy to penetrate and the defense of the system will be impossible to break into.
Decentralization: one of the important things all developers look into when developing a blockchain is for the system to be a decentralized system where all users will have their individual freedom, authorities when using the system, the system will also be free from a third party interference on the system.
2 - Is the Blockchain Trilemma Really a Trilemma?
Well, I believe that the blockchain trilemma is not really a trilemma because if we check most of the blockchain systems that was developed so far starting from Bitcoin to Ethereum, we will notice that all the so-called Trilemma is almost nonexistent in the system because most of this networks are tightly secured and they are also decentralized by nature when it comes to the scalability although not all networks have the scalability function through research we have found out that it is possible for these networks to run multiple transactions, also have more users in the system.
3 Define the following concepts in your own words:
A. Decentralization
B. scalability
C. Blockchain Security
Decentralization
Like I have explained earlier, in blockchain, decentralization of the system matters a lot to the users or subscribers, because it is one of the functions that attract these users to the system, like the fact that a user can make his/her transactions without the interference of a third party just like how it happens when using the local banks, and also a decentralized system helps users to be free of having to place their trust on anyone because the system runs an open contract system where all transactions are recorded and displayed to all users to see and cross-check, which also means that no user can cheat other users when making transactions because it will be displayed to each of the users.
scalability
Just like I have said earlier, in Blockchain, scalability is one of the most important aspects that all developers look into because the scalability is the one that determines the number of users that the system can accommodate, also how fast transactions on the system will be, which why most developers find it very hard to do away with this function every time they are developing a blockchain system, though some blockchain tends to adapt without the scalability, such system tends to lag in performance and it takes a lot of time for transactions to be completed, which is why scalability is always crucial to the development of blockchain system.
Blockchain Security
In the blockchain, the Security of the system is very important, because no user wants to sign up to a blockchain system that is not secured or invest millions of assets in the system while knowing that your asset is not safe there, which is why all blockchain developers always take the security of the system very important when developing the blockchain system.
And with tight security, the transactions of all users will be thorough and transparent, with the help of an open ledger which most of the decentralized blockchain uses makes it much easier for users to see the incoming and outgoing transactions that take place in the system.
And with a secured system, makes it more realistic for users to make their transactions without the fear of hackers hijacking their transactions in the process.
4. Based on your knowledge, explain at least two viable solutions to the challenges posed in the Blockchain Trilemma.
Solution 1
One of the solutions I believe is viable to Blockchain Trilemma is finding a way to improve the Consensus Protocol, just like the blockchain ecosystem where the first layer of the system are the Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum where the development of each of the coins signifies the improvement in the blockchain system. And in terms of the consensus Protocol, the Proof of Work(PoW) is the most popular protocol that most of the blockchains systems make use of, so far it only achieves 7 TPS. I believe in order to improve the TPS of the blockchain system, the blockchain has to adapt to the use of Proof of Stake (PoS) which I believe will help in improving the capacity of the system and also helps tighten up the security of the blockchain.
Solution 2
Another observation I have is that in order to improve the blockchain network, then all find a way to stabilize the system in a way that the three most important of the system is complete, like for the blockchain network to have been decentralized, for the network to be secured and free from hacking, the network also needs to be scalable in a way that it will be more accessible to the users and also the system has to be fast in order to minimize data loss in the system.
Conclusion
From our discussion above it is shown that Blockchain Trilemma is very important to all blockchain developers because the security of the system is very crucial to the development of the system, also the system has to be a decentralized system because it helps to ascertain how safe it is for users that are making use of the network, the blockchain system also has to be scalable, because this will determine the number of users the system can accommodate and also how fast such system is. Special thanks to professor @nane15 for his wonderful explanation of the course which helps in understanding most of the critical aspects of the course. Thank you all for reading to the end.
Cc: @nane15