Perspectives | Some Thoughts on the Blockchain World and Security After 2020

Author: cosine

Source: Lazy Thinking

As an insider in the blockchain world, I have some thoughts to write and talk to my followers.

First of all, in the past two years, I have done some sharing here (15 articles) mainly around blockchain security. If we had the tacit understanding of the past two years, the thinking in this article should better resonate.

• Research shows: DeFi realised over 250% return last year
• U.S. Treasury Department uses blockchain technology to track government funding
• UK Financial Conduct Authority officially oversees anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing activities of crypto companies

Three magic boxes

In the history of blockchain development, I think there are three magic box-like milestones. Since it is a magic box, it must bring enough influence, although it may not bring enough landing.

The first is the world of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto consensus. In fact, it goes without saying that Bitcoin / Satoshi Nakamoto is already the highest belief in this world.

Interestingly, in the list of "crypto punk" characters on Wikipedia, one is Satoshi Nakamoto and the other is Assange. Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks has been running since the end of 2006. WikiLeaks is an Internet media without borders and non-profits that helps organizations, businesses, and governments operate in the sun by assisting insiders. A large number of confidential documents are controversial. Anyway, many powerful countries do not like them. In the end, these countries are intolerable. In 2019, Assange was officially arrested …

Back in 2010, when Assange saw the development of Bitcoin, it was announced that WikiLeaks would accept Bitcoin sponsorship. This is a very genius idea. Except for Bitcoin, WikiLeaks ’fiat currency sponsorship channels are strictly blocked by various countries. Bitcoin is difficult to block. At that time, Satoshi Nakamoto was very anxious. I felt that Assange you announced this in a high-profile way. This is not a good thing for Bitcoin that has only been in development for 2 years. After all, what is the situation of WikiLeaks? Satoshi Nakamoto is not a fool. In the unlikely event that two years of bitcoin is killed by super power, what is the good thing? At that time Satoshi Nakamoto left a paragraph:

It would have been nice to get this attention in any other context. WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet's nest (马 cellular), and the swarm is headed towards us.from: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2216. msg29280 # msg29280

In 2011, Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared … We can't speculate why he disappeared, but indeed Bitcoin has started to grow out of control. Looking back now, Bitcoin's past history has made Bitcoin today, and Bitcoin has opened the first magic box in the cryptocurrency world.

The second magic box was opened on Ethereum, introducing a Turing-complete smart contract, allowing the blockchain not only to run cryptocurrencies, but also custom calculations, although this kind of calculation is not as intelligent as "smart" Although the opening of this magic box brought a lot of chaos, we now know: "Oh, blockchain can do such a thing."

The third magic box was opened by Libra. The opening of this magic box made everyone in the non-cryptocurrency world pay attention to: "Wow, the original blockchain can be played like this …" Libra, a package of global stablecoins, is made up of Dominated by Facebook, the entire official website is full of the feeling of a digital currency revolution, and the vision is extremely domineering:

Build a simple global monetary and financial infrastructure to serve billions of people. Recreate money. Reshaping the global economy. Let people around the world live a better life.

After Libra, everyone also quickly saw our country's big attitude towards blockchain: "Blockchain must be done!" "Cryptocurrency is not working, strict supervision is required!" In any case, blockchain is really a fire in China. Now …

A split

After the three magic boxes are opened, there is a clear split in this world: the public chain and the alliance chain.

Although the cryptocurrencies on the public chain have been recognized to some extent in some developed countries and third world countries, such as recognizing this as "personal property" and even as a legal payment currency in a small range, these are strictly Under the regulatory bill, with particular emphasis on anti-money laundering. But cryptocurrencies are generally a new thing that is very vigilant to the existing world order.

However, the alliance chain is different. The alliance chain is a form that the existing world order likes, because it can be autonomous and controllable. Looking at the existing alliance chain scenes, you can find a common feature "license model". Only licensed units can participate in the alliance chain and can become a key node in the alliance chain. The scenario corresponding to the alliance chain must have some form of "super-supervisor". This "super-supervisor" is responsible for monitoring and managing the activities of the parties in this scenario. Of course, this "super-supervisor" may also be decentralized. For "super monitor" and "super manager". You see, how good the alliance chain is. Of course, there are many fish and dragon mixed situations in the alliance chain, which will not be discussed.

Public chain ecology

Special mention of the public chain ecology, there is nothing to mention about the alliance chain ecology, let bullets fly more will say 🙂

Since it is a public chain, that is the global public blockchain, brutal development is its biggest gene, how to effectively monitor this is a big topic, not to talk about here. Here is a brief list of the public chain world. I think it is interesting that it is currently in a small range.

1. Payment demand: Cryptocurrencies that have a global consensus, such as Bitcoin, Monero, and Ethereum, can be used for payment and settlement in certain scenarios, including stablecoins running on them.
2. Financial demand: Decentralized financial (DeFi) DApp, which has a good small-scale application on Ethereum, but it is mainly around mortgage lending, but it is trying to learn from the existing world financial scene and working in the decentralized scene. Improve;
3. Entertainment requirements: Some game-based DApps, such as those running on Ethereum, EOS, and Tron, have high-quality ones, although compared with existing world game scenes, there are too few and too few players;
4. Privacy requirements: Web3.0, users have the right to own assets and privacy right after mastering the private key. To put it bluntly, Web3.0 can make people "ownership" better. I think this is a very meaningful long-term direction, but to promote Speed ​​will not be fast;
5. Requirement for speculation: This world is such that "if things are not speculated, there will be less power." This is why there are so many cryptocurrency exchanges, which also creates a lot of chaos;
6. Storage requirements: Many people are similar to me. Cryptocurrencies you like will be held for a long time, so you have to store them securely, and cryptocurrency wallets will be in full bloom like this;
7. Computing power requirements: Whether it is PoW, PoS / DPoS, etc., the essence is to have "computing power", that is, "block right", that is, "coin right". Of course, "coin right" does not necessarily have to be based on "computing power". For example, USDT / TUSD / USDC / GUSD / PAX and other cryptocurrency stable currencies are very centralized in nature. For example, a hacker can also have " "Coin right", but this "coin right" of hackers is not long-lasting, and this kind of loophole is not easy to have in the world's top public chain.

There are about 7 points, and there may be some, so first. The convergence and evolution of these needs makes me look forward to the blockchain world after 2020. The evolution of the public chain will give birth to true groups of privacy, freedom, and security; the evolution of the public chain will solve certain trust boundaries between countries, races, and groups. Well, it's a bit big, but it will be.

Speaking of safety

Security in the public chain world is a strong and rigid need. It can be considered as a new type of financial security direction. All new orders are "crossing the river by touching the stones." For security, except for "crossing the river by touching the stones." There are no particularly clear guidelines. But I think this is interesting, the direction is new enough, the space is large enough, and the security team opens the territory.

Security is attached to the ecology. Every point of the public chain ecology mentioned above has absolute security requirements. In addition to traditional network security attacks and defenses, more is the security attack and defense of the public chain itself. We turn these two parts into "off-chain security and On-chain security. " Regarding the importance of security in the blockchain world, please see my previous article, not to explain too much here.

Security is one of the infrastructures in the blockchain ecosystem, regardless of the public or alliance chain. However, from the perspective of the just-needed business, security is a strong need in the public chain world, and a sufficiently strong blockchain security company can be born; security is a "false demand" in the alliance chain world. Security companies in this world and in There is a sense of existence in the existing world order, there will be, not without a market, but a serious lack of imagination. One more thing about the security of the alliance chain: Too many scenarios of the alliance chain, security is very lagging behind, and has not experienced enough security confrontation tests as many scenarios of the public chain. One of the very scary security offensive and defensive entrances is the "super regulator", which can directly determine the life and death of an alliance chain.

It must be said that the security derivatives built on the infrastructure of security is the real big market. This world needs secure payment scenarios, secure financial scenarios, secure entertainment scenarios, secure privacy scenarios, secure speculation scenarios, secure storage scenarios, secure computing power scenarios, and more. The scenario is no longer a pure security attack and defense requirement, but a security-based derivative requirement.

Here, we have divided security into two parts: security products and security derivatives.

The security product itself has a lot of room for creation. Some unique creations of on-chain security and off-chain security:

1. The on-chain level can have its own vulnerability scanning, firewall, anti-money laundering, etc. The core components must be implemented on the chain, such as the smart contract layer, the smart contract user layer, and the smart contract system layer can do some work.
2. There is more room for creation at the off-chain level. It can have its own vulnerability scanning, threat analysis, event analysis, firewall, anti-money laundering, etc. The core components are implemented off-chain, and relevant security policies are implemented through several entrances of the blockchain. , Such as RPC, P2P, smart contract virtual machine, etc.

As for security derivatives, the requirements are mentioned above, so I won't start here 🙂

Talking about how to make the blockchain world secure, can the use of blockchain technology solve some of the security problems in the existing world?

Of course you can. The blockchain has a very core ability to solve the problem of trust. As mentioned earlier, Web 3.0, "People are the masters of the people," and the people have their own assets and privacy when they have the private key. If applied well, this can well solve the pain points of the current Internet privacy big bang (leakage). Why these privacy big bangs is because the existing privacy security model is relatively fragile under the current Internet. Can it be solved perfectly? I don't think so 🙂

The private key is a magical thing, and it is a reflection of the glory of cryptography. Based on the private key, there can be many interesting creations. The private key can be used not only by individuals but also by multiple parties. Security issues authorizing the use of assets or privacy. Although these processes do not require a blockchain, combining a blockchain is also equivalent to combining a certain trust model. The blockchain allows the brilliant application of cryptography to take a big step forward. Our creative focus must be on these credible links.

The blockchain is not a panacea or silver bullet, but it is a magic potion. It can reduce the cost of trust and audit costs in a multi-party game scenario. Is it necessary to use blockchain technology? This is really not. Is that all public chains valuable? Not necessarily. Look at things and see what they are and do things objectively. Awe the power, but stay away from the black and white.

At last

Finally, I want to say: the future virtual world is an absolute independent intelligence (silicon-based life), the crypto world is an absolute trend, and the cryptocurrency is an absolute need. Although there is still a long way to go, this future A lighthouse.

Blockchain security also follows this lighthouse, creating unlimited space and unlimited market space.

In Blockchain We Trust 😉

(The title picture comes from: https://hackernoon.com/libra-a-cyberpunk-nightmare-in-the-midst-of-crypto-spring-5543b6f6e34b)

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