Thread by @navinram999

We talked about dust and why it was bad for a blockchain. But what does it mean specifically for #IOTA?

1/n

https://twitter.com/navinram999/status/1456400210989568000

Blockchains grows in size over time. This is due to at least 2 distinct things:

1) You store the history of transactions.

2) You store the current ledger state - the current amount of tokens on every address in the network.

2/n

On the IOTA network we have already introduced local snapshots, which allow you “prune” the history of transactions.

This means that the nodes need to store less data, and new nodes take less time to catch up with the rest of the network.

3/n

However you cannot prune the current ledger state because it literally tells you where all the tokens are.

Now, the more addresses there are that contain a balance, the more storage is required to store the ledger state.

4/n

So if I took 1 million IOTA (1 Mi) stored on 1 address, and split them up to 1 million single IOTA on a million addresses, we would massively bloat the ledger state.

5/n

That is a good way to attack any blockchain, because this increase in storage is irreversible, as the ledger state cannot be easily pruned.

So you can permanently slow down the network very cheaply.

(Note: the network can also decide to “burn” these dust addresses).

6/n

The new dust protection mechanism is being introduced specifically to stop the bloating of the ledger state in IOTA.

This allows the network to run on lower-end hardware, and prevents centralisation by means of resource requirements.

7/n

In terms of sending microtransactions, you can currently send them with a deposit. But we are also currently exploring other options. Hopefully more to follow..

If you have any questions, please join us on the #IOTA Discord: discord.iota.org