The blockchain technology has been around for a long time, and it was a popular project a few years ago. However, I have always been confused about the technology involved in it. Recently, I came across a blog called XLog that uses blockchain technology, so I took this opportunity to organize my knowledge and dispel the confusion in my mind.
Stereotypes#
The following are some characteristics that I have come across and understood after a brief introduction to related content. These characteristics are the basis for understanding the relevant content. If the understanding is not accurate enough, it may be confusing, and if there are errors, it may lead to deeper confusion. Although I am not involved in this field, it is still valuable to build a basic understanding of these characteristics in order to understand related articles or use related products with peace of mind.
Decentralization#
The first time I came across the term "decentralization" was in ZeroNet. At that time, I saw the trend on Github and installed it to try it out. My impression was that it took up a lot of local space and the speed was not ideal. So, my impressions of decentralization are as follows:
- Takes up space
- Slow speed
Blockchain#
The basic concept of blockchain mainly comes from articles related to Bitcoin. I have the following impressions:
- Blockchain is like a linked list, connected together by HASH pointers
- Content input legality is ensured through asymmetric encryption
- Blockchain is protected from tampering through proof of work
Payment Wallets & Exchanges#
When I tried to consume virtual currency (recharge ChatGPT), I encountered some problems and formed the following impressions:
- Wallet address
- Exchange: for cryptocurrency trading
- Different networks exist
- The same cryptocurrency can exist in different networks (USDT)
- High transaction fees
- Wallets have limited network support, depending on whether the wallet itself has implemented the necessary support
Ethereum#
- Gas fees
- Proof of Stake (POS)
- Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
- Smart contracts
Organization and Addressing Doubts#
😐 Understanding Decentralization#
Currently, I have not encountered anything that contradicts my initial impression. Decentralization is an inefficient solution, but it has its advantages in other aspects.
🤔 The Validity of the Statement that the Computing Power of Proof of Work (POW) Should Exceed 51%#
At first, I was confused and imagined that it should be contagious. When I create a malicious block and broadcast it, other miners should follow my block and create blocks afterwards, as shown in the figure below:
[Image]
However, this idea is incorrect. A malicious block should not be broadcasted in order to achieve its goal. When I broadcast it, it is actually a normal block because I cannot forge the consumer's spending, which requires the consumer's private key. If I try to forge it, it will not be propagated to other nodes because it does not comply with the rules. I can only rely on myself to complete more than 50% of the computing power. The branching phenomenon I imagined is actually a normal forking problem in a decentralized network, not a malicious attack.
🤔 Ethereum Virtual Machine and Smart Contracts#
These two concepts are not difficult to understand. In a blockchain, each block can carry data, and this data can also be executable bytecode. Smart contracts are executable programs in this environment.
🤔 Proof of Stake (POS) Mechanism#
Simply put, Proof of Work (POW) relies on the amount of work to determine who has the final say, while Proof of Stake (POS) relies on the amount of money to determine who has the final say. To break the rules, one needs to have enough money.
😑 What Does the Network Displayed in the Wallet Mean?#
The virtual currency network refers to a decentralized network composed of a group of computer nodes distributed around the world that supports virtual currency transactions.
Just based on this definition of the network, there should be no difficult-to-understand aspects. However, after making the first virtual currency transaction, I found that many tokens are under the Ethereum main network, which gave me the illusion that all transactions can be completed in this network. Simply put, different networks are two unrelated things. Please use the exchange to conduct currency transactions.
😑 Gas Fees#
The fixed pricing of these fees makes me feel that virtual currency is not friendly for small transactions. The high fees make me feel that using virtual currency in daily life is probably a pseudo-demand. It is more suitable as an asset, like gold.
About Nodes#
So far, I have tried not to focus on the details to build some intuitive thinking about blockchain-related topics. However, there is one thing that I can't get over in my mind, which is nodes. For a centralized service, there is no problem with not understanding the servers, but for a decentralized node, not understanding it makes me doubt the security of this decentralized network.
Cost of Configuring Nodes#
From the official documentation, I can see some basic resource usage:
[Image]
[Image]
Distribution of Nodes#
Clients - ethernodes.org - The Ethereum Network & Node Explorer
Where is the Blog Data in XLog?#
Finally, regarding the XLog blog website, if you check the personal homepage, you will find an identity label at the bottom:
[Image]
Note that there is an IPFS address here. IPFS is a distributed storage, so the data is stored here. For more information on how this storage works, you can refer to this link:
After that, by finding the transaction record of the first blog post through the wallet, you can find an IPFS address data: ipfs://bafkreiatu45w6bdulbxgbmzdgp6w7rhwersep6jyal7g2thj44nmmbgkzm. With this address, you can find the corresponding blog post data:
Conclusion#
Generated by Notion AI
In this article, the author organizes their understanding of blockchain technology, including decentralization, blockchain, payment wallets and exchanges, Ethereum, and other common concepts. They also mention some doubts they have encountered and their concerns about nodes while learning about blockchain technology. This article provides a basic understanding and comprehension of blockchain technology for beginners.