blockchains 101 - muneeb ali, blockstack labs
TRANSCRIPT
Outline
— Overview of blockchains— How blockchains work— What are the challenges with blockchains— How to build apps with blockchains
How Blockchains Work
Let’s design a new currency…
Muneeb Ali 10 coins
Brian Kernighan 10 coins
Paul Krugman 0 coins
How Blockchains Work
Let’s design a new currency…
Muneeb Ali 10 coins
Brian Kernighan 10 coins
Paul Krugman 0 coins
Muneeb —> Krugman 2 coins (unconfirmed)
How Blockchains Work
Let’s design a new currency…
Muneeb Ali 8 coins
Brian Kernighan 10 coins
Paul Krugman 2 coins
Muneeb —> Krugman 2 coins (confirmed)
How Blockchains Work
Muneeb Ali 8 coins
Brian Kernighan 10 coins
Paul Krugman 2 coins
Muneeb —> Krugman 2 coins (confirmed)
Bill Gates 0 coins
How Blockchains Work
Muneeb Ali 8 coins
Brian Kernighan 10 coins
Paul Krugman 2 coins
Muneeb —> Krugman 2 coins (confirmed)
Bill Gates 0 coins
Muneeb —> Bill 2 coins (unconfirmed)
— It’s a file!— Append-only global log— Every node on the network has a consistent copy
Blockchain
How Blockchains Work
General Challenges with Blockchains:
— Storage limitations (blockchain bloat)— Introducing new features (hard fork)— Introducing new features (hard fork)— Slow writes— Endless ledger problem
• No such thing as a “bitcoin”. Only inputs and outputs
• 21 million total bitcoins (fixed)
• 50 BTC minted each block, halved to 25 BTC
How Blockchains Work:
Blockstack Networkbitcoin node (bitcoind) blockstack server bitcoind peer connection rpc connection to bitcoind
Bitcoin
Global Naming (TLDs)
Ethereum Hyperledger
Blockch
ain D
river
Blockch
ain D
river
Blockch
ain D
river
Multiple Blockchains:
300,000
200,000
100,000
Blockstack
byte
s w
ritte
n
— Largest non-financial production system on Bitcoin
Lessons from Production Use:
— Storage limitations (blockchain bloat) —> Unlimited data— Introducing new features (hard fork)— Introducing new features (hard fork) —> Virtualchain— Slow writes —> Get operations off blockchain path
— Security issues —> Need to use most secure blockchain
Details: Blockstack Paper, Proc. 2016 USENIX Annual Technical Conference
Blockstack CLI
Blockstack gives you fast, secure, and easy-to-use
DNS, PKI, identity management, and custom
namespaces on the blockchain
Thank You!Comments? Tweet them @muneeb
Web: http://blockstack.org
Code: github.com/blockstack