BlockShots: Blockchain Simplified

Traditionally blockchains execute transactions sequentially. Some of the newer chains have been trying parallel execution of transactions to improve blockchain performance. In this episode we understand what are parallel transactions and how they work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this episode we understand what are real world assets and why they are being tokenised. What are real world assets?Any thing of value that has been generated or created in the real world before being represented digitally.For example: Fiat currencies, Art, Commodities, etc.Benefits of tokenisation: Enhanced liquidity, easier trade, easier record keeping and tracking of ownership. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

After a brief break, we are back with new episodes.Ethereum recently upgraded to a new update called Dencun. In this episode we understand what this update is and how it is important.9 different updates clubbed together. Biggest and most important — introduction of blobs. Protodanksharding. Reduce transaction fee on rollups by providing cheaper data availability. EIP 4844. No fee reduction on Ethereum L1 transactions. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

Restaking is staking of already staked tokens. But how is the possible?If tokens are staked for one purpose — providing econoimic security for consensus of a network — they could be further staked to provide security to other networks or apps.The process of restaking works by overriding the withdrawal and slashing conditions of user’s staked tokens.Listeners are encouraged to also check out the Episode 22 where Proof of Stake and Staking are explained. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

Modular blockchains has been one of the buzz words in the last year. In this episode, let’s understand modularity in blockchains.In the beginning, consensus and execution were part of the same blockchain like Ethereum 1.0. Then execution was decoupled and put into rollups. Then came the need for storing rollup data in the L1. And then we got DA layers as separate networks.Now we have consensus on L1, execution on L2, and data on DA layers. This is how we have modularised the blockchains. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this episode, we understand what are altcoins?Altcoin was first used for any coin other than bitcoin. But the definition has evolved a bit among different circles in the crypto land. Listen to the full episode to explore the topic in detail. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this episode, we understand what are orphan or uncle blocks. This is more of a Proof of Work related concept where two blocks are produced at the same time. One of them becomes part of the chain - based on the longest chain consensus rule - while the other becomes and orphan (Bitcoin) or uncle (Ethereum 1.0) block.Listen to the full episode to understand what eventually happens to these blocks and transactions inside them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this episode, we understand the two ways of doing blockchain governance - on-chain and off-chain.When the decisions to update the blockchain software are driven by processes off the chain (online forums, meetups, etc.) then it leads to off-chain governance.When the decisions are made using a voting process that is recorded on the blockchain (as transactions) and when the update of the blockchain is driven via this voting, then it is on-chain governance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

A fork choice rule is part of the blockchain consensus mechanism and it is used to find out the canonical chain for adding new blocks.Fork choice rule becomes relevant when there is a fork caused by network partition or two blocks being produced at the same time. A fork could also happen when there are dishonest validators in the network.When validators produce new blocks, they need to identify which block should be the parent of the block being produced. To find the parent block, validators have to run a function to find out the longest chain. This function is called the fork choice rule.Depending on the blockchain consensus rules, the fork choice rule takes as input the current chain, the votes or attestations on finalized or seen blocks, and other relevant consensus data. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

Rollups are L2 scaling mechanisms where transaction execution is done offchain in the rollup node or sequencer. The state is updated on the L1 based on this execution. Rollup nodes also publish transaction data “rolled up” as batches and blocks on the L1 chain.When it comes to following the blockchain data structure of adding the reference of previous (parent) block to the next block — rollups do that.But the representation of blocks and consensus on L2 could be different. In addition sequencers could just be centralized in some rollups.Hence, rollups do use some characteristics of blockchains while customising some things to suit the execution on L2s. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

When users stake their tokens to provide security and validation in a PoS network, those tokens are locked for the duration of staking. The users can’t use staked tokens for anything else. This is native staking.In Liquid Staking, a liquid token is generated and given to the user in return of staked tokens for the duration of staking. The liquid tokens could be used in some scenarios like DeFi, effectively making the staked tokens useful while staking. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

Sharding in blockchain is of two types — execution sharding and data sharding. There could be other types in the future, the crypto space evolves quickly.In episode 41, what I explained was primarily execution sharding. Where the transaction execution is divided across several sub-chains for faster throughput.https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-41-blockchain-sharding#detailsHowever, Ethereum has moved away from the execution sharding roadmap and is now moving towards data sharding. In data sharding, the validators form smaller subnets (shards) to verify and validate chunks of data posted by the rollups. Hence data sharding is a way to scale and improve data availability on Ethereum. Not every validator has to download all the data chunks, they only have to download and verify on a subnet level. Hence, data is sharded across several shards (logically). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

To scale blockchains, we need scalability solutions like rollups. To make sure that the rollups are doing the right thing, we need data availability. And to ensure that data availability is done right, we need data availability sampling.This episode explains data availability sampling at a high level and tries to paint a bigger picture on how some of the above mentioned concepts are connected.For details, I encourage to check out the article linked below:https://www.paradigm.xyz/2022/08/das This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

Validiums are L2 scaling solutions similar to ZK Rollups with a basic difference that they use a separate data availability layer instead of posting rollup data on the execution layer (Ethereum mainnet).Validiums also use ZK proofs to prove state transition validity to the L1. Similar to ZK Rollups, Validiums post the validity proof on the Ethereum mainnet (execution layer). However, unlike ZK Rollups, they don’t post the rollup transaction data on Ethereum mainnet. Instead, they post the data on a separate data availability layer.This allows validiums to scale more than ZK Rollups, because they are not limited by data availability bandwidth of Ethereum. However, it also makes them relatively less secure because the user withdrawls from L1 could be restricted if data is not properly made available by the external offchain data availability layer. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

There is a new term in the crypto land — blobspace.Before understanding blobspace, let’s first do a quick refresher on data availability. Check out Episode 88 of the podcast.https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-88-what-is-data-availability#detailsData availability is about making the L2 block data available on the L1s. For Optimistic rollups — to build fraud proofs. For ZK Rollups — to know the state transitions.How do we make data available? By posting it on the L1 chain. Currently it is being posted as a hack — utilising the CALLDATA field in Ethereum transaction format. But that is inefficient and expensive.To improve data availability on Ethereum, an update is planned to introduce posting of data blobs on the L1. This would make data availability cheaper and more efficient for rollups.The data blobs posted by L2s with their transaction data have their own dedicated space inside the blocks. This space is logically separate from the L1 transaction data and is informally called as blobspace. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

Just a couple of days ago, in a work call, someone asked me the difference between blockchain and blockspace.Blockspace is a bit of a abstract concept. The capacity to fit transactions in a block.Check out episode 44 for a overview of block limits.https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-44-block-gas-limit-block#detailsBlockspace is a higher lever concept that refers to the overall capacity of the blockchain to process transactions and data, per block.When we evaluate blockchains, looking from the blockspace perspective can be useful.If the blockspace is secure, that means a blockchain has strong security and decentralization properties. There are less chances for hacks or exploits.If the blockspace is highly available, that means the blockchain has more capacity and throughput to process more transactions.https://www.generalist.com/briefing/blockspace This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this 100th episode we do something special. We look at the Bitcoin whitepaper and summarize the key points. We understand what are the design goals and the problems to solve for Bitcoin.You can read the full Bitcoin whitepaper here - https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf.Thank you for your support till 100 episodes. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this episode we understand what is latency in blockchains and how it relates to throughput. We also look at various factors and variables impacting the latency and throughput in blockchains.Music: https://www.purple-planet.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this episode we understand what are Intents in blockchains and how they are different from transactions. We also understand the different usage and needs of intent based approach in designing blockchain applications.Music: https://www.purple-planet.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net

In this episode we understand what are ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) and why they are used in Bitcoin and other crypto mining. We also understand their relation with the hash power based proof of work systems.Music: https://www.purple-planet.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.blockshots.net