So I know scalable consensus models are a very 2017-2018 topic, but I wanted to write 3500+ words on them anyways. Enjoy! 0/5 multicoin.capital/2019/07/16/the…
The more I studied consensus models in blockchain-based systems, the more I became convinced that @nic__carter is right: it's #timechain, not blockchain. Bitcoin's timechain provides an easily verifiable, trustless clock to new validators joining the network. 1/5
This timechain allows for a canonical ordering of transactions, but "ticks" very slowly to minimize chain growth and to maximize the possibility that nodes with very poor Internet connections can stay in consensus. This is a design choice made for very good reasons! 2/5
When examined using this framework, other consensus algorithms (e.g. Tendermint, Ethereum 2.0-style sharding) can effectively be simplified down to the following question: how can we safely speed up our network's clock to as fast as possible? 3/5
In the post, I walk through a few consensus algorithms using this model, before arriving at @solanalabs. They recognized the #timechain properties of Bitcoin early, and leaned into it in a very unique way that allows them to speed up their network clock as fast as possible. 4/5
I hope you enjoy the post, and welcome any discussion! This was a fun way to apply my wireless networks background, which have some similarities to blockchain/timechain-based networks that are underexplored :) 5/5
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