Block Shots - Blockchain in 5 minutes!
Gautam Dhameja
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Block Shots provides a basic understanding of the most important blockchain concepts in five minutes. Learn about blocks, transactions, consensus, finality, governance, etc. and many more fundamentals while having your morning coffee, commuting, or whenever you’ve got a moment.
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5 days ago
Episode 94 - Probabilistic Vs. Deterministic Finality
In this episode we continue the discussion on block finality and understand two different types of finality - Probabilistic Vs. Deterministic. We also look at how these two are applicable in different kind of consensus systems.
For more details, check out the blog post here - https://www.gautamdhameja.com/instant-finality-feature-or-bug/
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Sep 11, 2023
Episode 93 - What Is Block Finality?
In this episode, we understand what is finality in blockchains and why is it needed. We look at a few scenarios where the concept of finality plays an important role in determining the state of the blockchain.
For more details, check out the blog post here - https://www.gautamdhameja.com/instant-finality-feature-or-bug/
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Sep 4, 2023
Episode 92 - Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)
In this episode, we understand what is Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism and how it is different from normal Proof of Stake. Check out episode 22 first to get the best out of this one.
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-22-proof-of-stake-492
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 28, 2023
Episode 91 - Account Abstraction
In this episode, we understand what is Account Abstraction and how it can make user experience much more simpler and easier.
To get the best out of this episode, it is encouraged that you check out the following two episodes first.
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-8-accounts-and-keys-15d
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-63-not-your-keys-not-your
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 21, 2023
Episode 90 - Decentralized Social Networks
In this episode, we learn about what are Decentralized Social Networks and how they work. We also understand the issues with current centralized social networks and how decentralization solves some of them.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 14, 2023
Episode 89 - Fractional NFTs
In this episode, the topic is Fractional NFTs. Fractionalization of NFTs allows low barrier partial ownership of NFTs. The episode goes into explaining what is partial ownership and how do Fractional NFTs enable it.
Previous episodes about NFTs:
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-31-non-fungible-tokens-nfts#details
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-69-how-nfts-work#details
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 7, 2023
Episode 88 - What is Data Availability?
This episode covers the famous data availability problem in blockchains and how it impacts the security and verifiability among different kinds of scaling and synchronization techniques. This one is slightly more technical. It is recommended that you check out the Light Clients and Rollups episodes before listening to this one.
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-49-light-clients#details
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-46-rollups#details
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 31, 2023
Episode 87 - BRC20 Tokens on Bitcoin
In this episode, we understand what are BRC20 tokens and how they work. They are based on the Bitcoin ordinals and it is recommended that you listen to the Ordinals episode before listening to this one.
https://episodes.blockshots.fm/p/episode-78-bitcoin-ordinals#details
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 24, 2023
Episode 86 - ERC20 and Token Standards
This episode covers blockchain token standards, how they came up, and what do they solve.
It also covers what are ERC20 tokens and why they are so popular.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 17, 2023
Episode 85 - Multiparty Compute (MPC)
In this episode, the topic is Multiparty Compute (MPC). We go into some basic explanation of what MPC is, how it works, and how it is used as a security measure for crypto wallets.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 10, 2023
Episode 84 - Unstoppable Applications
In this episode, the topic is Unstoppable Applications. We understand how applications dependent on others’ platforms and infrastructure can be stopped and how decentralized systems make them unstoppable.
To learn how to build Unstoppable Applications and blockchains and the core concepts behind them, do check out Polkadot Blockchain Academy. See more information at the following links.
https://linktr.ee/polkadotblockchainacademy
https://polkadot.network/development/academy/
https://www.youtube.com/@polkadotblockchainacademy
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 3, 2023
Episode 83 - AppChains
This episode is about AppChains - blockchains designed and built for specific application needs. Understand how AppChains are different from smart contract platforms and what problems they solve.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 26, 2023
Episode 82 - Smart Contracts Development: How is it different?
In this episode, we do a slightly tangential topic about how smart contracts development is different from conventional software development. This stems from the last few episodes covering virtual machines and blockchain attacks. These create special conditions for execution of smart contacts. Let’s understand that.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 19, 2023
Episode 81 - MEV Boost
In this episode, we understand MEV Boost - a protocol to reduce the bad effects of MEV. The episode goes a bit deep into how MEV boost works and how it distributes the MEV opportunities and value among all parties. This one is a bit more deep into tech.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 12, 2023
Episode 80 - How MEV Works
In this episode we do a double click on how MEV works and who gets to make the profit when there is an opportunity. The episode also covers behind-the-scenes components of MEV with clear explanation of the entire process flow.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 5, 2023
Episode 79 - What's a 51% Attack?
In this episode, the topic is another one of blockchain attacks - the 51% Attack. The episode covers what is this attack, how it effects the blockchain consensus systems, and what is the effect on users and 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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 29, 2023
Episode 78 - Bitcoin Ordinals
In this episode the topic is the newly famous Bitcoin ordinals. We understand what are ordinals and how they enable NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain. We also understand the basics around the ordinal theory.
You can also read more about the ordinal theory here - https://docs.ordinals.com/
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 22, 2023
Episode 77 - What's a DDoS Attack?
In this episode, we understand what is a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack and how it is relevant in context of blockchains. We also understand how DDoS attacks have negative impact on the functioning of 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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 15, 2023
Episode 76 - What is EVM?
In this episode, we understand what is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and how it works in the Ethereum blockchain. We also look at how the EVM makes sure all nodes reach consensus while running on different kinds of hardware.
It is recommended that you listen to the previous episode about virtual machines to better grasp the concepts in this episode.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 8, 2023
Episode 75 - Virtual Machines and Blockchains
In this episode, we understand what are virtual machines and how they are relevant in terms of blockchains, decentralized systems and consensus mechanisms. This will help build a foundation to understand other related concepts like EVM in later 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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 1, 2023
Episode 74 - Staking vs. Yield Farming
In this episode, we clarify what are Staking and Yield Farming, and how they are different from each other.
Staking — Generally related to Proof of Stake systems. The block rewards get distributed to the stakers. If the block producer don’t follow the rules, stakers risk losing the stake and the rewards.
Yield Farming — Generally related to DeFi. Users provide liquidity to pools and exchanges, and they get returns. These returns come from a share in the exchange fee, interest from loans, etc.
In staking, you risk losing your stake if you or the block producer you are backing does something bad. In yield farming, there is no such risk. On the other hand, staking rewards are generated regularly while yield farming happens when users use liquidity pools.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Apr 24, 2023
Episode 73 - How AMMs Work
In this episode, let’s find out how AMMs work, how the price and formulae for liquidity is determined, and what happens when the liquidity changes.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Apr 17, 2023
Episode 72 - A Refresher on AMMs
Initially, I wanted to do a double click on AMMs and how they work. But first I thought I should do a bit of a refresher with my new understanding of AMMs. In this episode, I have explained them with some new examples too.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Apr 10, 2023
Episode 71 - What is Tokengating?
These days the term ‘Tokengating’ has been going around quite a bit. In this episode, let’s understand what tokengating is and how it works.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Apr 3, 2023
Episode 70 - 5 NFT Use-cases
In the last episode, we understood how NFTs work. In this one, let’s explore top five use-cases of NFTs. From gaming to identity to real estate, let’s understand how NFTs could be used to represent several things on blockchains with full transparency.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Mar 27, 2023
Episode 69 - How NFTs Work
In this episode, let’s understand how NFTs work and how different components come together to create them. There is a lot going behind the scenes from where the assets are stored to how they are linked with their token identity.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Mar 20, 2023
Episode 68 - Use-cases of Zero Knowledge Proofs
In the last episode, we learned about how zero knowledge proofs work. In this episode, let’s go a step further and explore some of their use-cases.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Mar 13, 2023
Episode 67 - How Zero Knowledge Proofs Work
In this episode, let’s do a double click on Zero Knowledge Proofs. Let’s understand how they work and how they are implemented for blockchains. This episode goes slightly deeper into the ZK stuff, but still in a easy to understand language.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Mar 6, 2023
Episode 66 - Fraud Proofs and Validity Proofs
In the last episode, we touched on how rollups work. In this episode, we go a step further. Let’s understand what are Fraud and Validity proofs and how they are used in rollups.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Feb 27, 2023
Episode 65 - How Blockchain Rollups Work
In the episode 46 of Block Shots, we did a brief introduction of blockchain rollups. In this episode, we go a bit deeper into how rollups work and what components are involved in the block production and verification of rollup blocks.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Feb 20, 2023
Episode 64 - What's a Metaverse
You must have heard about the term Metaverse quite a bit in the last few months, ever since NFTs became famous. In this episode, let’s try to explore the most basic understanding of Metaverse and how does blockchain come into the picture.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Feb 13, 2023
Episode 63 - Not your Keys, Not your Crypto!
You must have heard this phrase quite a few times — Not your keys, not your crypto. Let’s find out, in this episode, what it actually means and how it effects you and your crypto currency holdings.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Feb 6, 2023
Episode 62 - How Smart Contracts Work
Smart contracts are simply code stored and executed on a blockchain. But how do they work? What happens when a user sends a transaction to deploy or execute a smart contract? Let’s find out in this episode.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jan 30, 2023
Episode 61 - Blockchain Gaming
Most of us are fans of computer or online gaming. In this episode, we discuss how blockchains make gaming more fun and fulfilling. They also allow different revenue streams though novel economic models in the world of gaming. Let’s explore.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jan 23, 2023
Episode 60 - Soul Bound Tokens
In this episode, the topic is Soul Bound Tokens. In the most basic sense, they are just non transferable NFTs. However, SBTs open up quite a few interesting use-case cases for blockchains. Listen to the episode to learn more about what are Soul Bound Tokens and how they could be used in several blockchain applications.
Vitalik’s blog post about SBTs - https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/01/26/soulbound.html
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jan 16, 2023
Episode 59 - Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)
In this episode, we cover Directed Acyclic Graph or DAG.
In blockchain, we have blocks as collection of transactions and the current block references the previous one, and a chain is formed.
In DAG, we don’t have any blocks. Transactions directly reference previous transactions. The nodes verify the previous transactions by referencing them in new transactions.
When a new transaction is submitted to a DAG, some previous transactions are referenced in it.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jan 9, 2023
Episode 58 - IPFS and Decentralized File Storage
In this episode, we cover Inter-planetary File System (IPFS) and decentralized file storage protocols in general. We also take a slightly deeper look into how IPFS works.
* NFT storage. Metadata storage of on-chain assets.
* Distributed, cannot be controlled by single organization.
* Censorship resistant.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jan 2, 2023
Episode 57 - Verifiable Credentials
In this episode, we cover Verifiable credentials. These are a standard to represent digital credentials that could be issued for an identity by an identity, and could be verified cryptographically.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Dec 19, 2022
Episode 56 - Decentralized Identifiers (DID)
We need a standard for representing identity on decentralized systems to use our decentralized identity across several applications.
Decentralized Identifiers or DIDs allow users and applications to represent and use identity related information in a reusable and app or platform agnostic manner.
DIDs are described in a DID document. So, the main identifier is the DID, and the associated metadata is stored in the DID document.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Dec 12, 2022
Episode 55 - Self Sovereign Identity
Self-sovereign Identity paradigm refers to identities owned by people themselves without depending on centralized systems or organizations.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GitHub are all centralized identity platforms. Identities created by these platforms are not exportable or usable across apps. Not in user’s control.
Self-sovereign Identity (SSI) is about getting users the control on their identity using decentralized systems.
Users create and own their identities on blockchains. They prove ownership using cryptographic signatures. They hold private and PII data in their identity wallets. They could use their identity across several app without copying or creating them again and again. At any time, they could stop sharing their data.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Dec 5, 2022
Episode 54 - Automated Market Makers (AMM)
In this episode, we cover Automated Market Makers or AMMs.
Traditionally exchanges are based on order books. Buyers and sellers are matched with quantity and price in their orders.
AMMs are different. They use a conversion formula for trades. They use decentralized liquidity pools for liquidity.
Any user can send one asset and get another asset from AMM, as long as there is a liquidity pool with enough liquidity in it.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Nov 28, 2022
Episode 53 - Front-running
In this episode, we discuss Front-running of transactions in blockchains. It is the most common type of MEV. We also touch on Back-running and Sandwich attacks.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Nov 21, 2022
Episode 52 - Maximal Extractable Value (MEV)
In this episode, we cover Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) and how it works.
Miners or Validators are responsible for selecting and including the transactions in a block. They are free to choose any transactions from the mempool. Miners can choose not to select certain transactions. They can also manipulate the order of transactions. This leads to MEV.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Nov 14, 2022
Episode 51 - Censorship Resistance
In this episode, we cover what makes Blockchains and decentralized systems censorship resistant.
Centralized systems are owned or controlled by organizations. They could limit the usage of some actors depending on local laws.
Decentralized systems are not controlled by any single party. They are made equal for everyone, based on the rules of the network. No local laws apply.
Users could send their transaction to several nodes, and one of them would include it in a block. No user is disallowed to use the system.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Nov 7, 2022
Episode 50 - Zero Knowledge Proofs
Blockchains are built for transparency and verifiability. Most of the data on a blockchain is publicly verifiable. For example, all transactions sent to bitcoin are public and anyone could query the balance of any account. Generally, this is not an issue because blockchain accounts are random strings and it is not easy to link an account to a human. This property of blockchains is also called pseudo anonymity.
However, sometimes we need privacy on blockchains for some use cases. For example, let’s say two supply chain participants want to transact over a blockchain and they don’t want to disclose their vendor costs to other participants who could be their competitors. In such a scenario, we need a way to hide data on the blockchain. Zero-knowledge proofs are one way of doing it.
Zero-knowledge proofs allow a prover to prove that they have some data without disclosing the actual data itself.
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to disc…
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Oct 31, 2022
Episode 49 - Light Clients
In the episode 3 of the podcast, I covered different kind of blockchain nodes and one of them is light client. In this episode, I’ll cover light clients in a bit more detail.
Light clients are special in the sense that they allow more decentralization. Unlike full nodes, light clients do not process all the transactions and blocks. They only synchronize block headers and are much light in terms of resource usage. Any user could run a light client without using any specialized hardware or servers.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Oct 24, 2022
Episode 48 - Blockchain Bridges
There are different blockchains built to serve different kind of users and use-cases. Bitcoin is for peer to peer transfer of currency while Ethereum is a smart contracts platform. Flow is for NFTs while ZCash is for private transactions. What if applications and users on these blockchains need to interact or integrate with each other?
Imagine a use-case where a smart contract on Ethereum, on successful execution, needs to transfer some bitcoin from one account to another on the Bitcoin blockchain.
This is where blockchain bridges come into the picture. Bridge allow message passing between two blockchains. Using a bridge, a user on one blockchain could move their assets or token to an account on a different blockchain. The way it works is by locking or burning assets on the source chain and then minting them on the destination chain. The communication to mint the assets on the destination chain is done via messages sent over bridges.
Simply put, bridges deploy smart contracts on bot…
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Oct 17, 2022
Episode 47 - Lifecycle of a Block
A block is a collection of transactions and some metadata. Let’s take a look at how a block is produced. Let’s just assume that according to the algorithm we already have the node (validator or miner) selected to produce the next block.
The first thing that this block producer node would do is to choose which block to build on. Remember blockchain is a chain of blocks. For each new block we need to refer to the hash of the previous block. Hence, the node would first choose or select which block to build on. Recall that all nodes in a blockchain store all the data about the state of the blockchain. So, the node would just pick the hash of the latest block from its local state.
Next, the node would pick the transactions waiting in its transaction queue or mem-pool and create a new block by ordering and packaging them together. This process is call block building. The output would be a block — a data object with metadata and a list of included transactions.
Once the block is buil…
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Oct 10, 2022
Episode 46 - Rollups
Rollups are layer 2 blockchain scalability solutions where the execution of transactions is moved off the main blockchain. Basically, the layer 1 chain is used for keeping the ledger state and providing consensus, while the off-chain layer 2 framework — rollup-is used to execute the transactions and submit the updated state to layer 1.
This approach decouples the work to store the ledger state and execute transactions between the layer 1 and layer 2 respectively. The way it helps achieve scalability is by executing many more transactions within the same block period.
The users send transactions to the rollup. The rollup gets the previous state of the ledger from the layer 1, executes multiple transactions based on this state, and then submits the updated state to the layer 1. The rollup also “rolls up” or bundles all the transaction data and stores it on layer 1 so that any other verifier or rollup node could check the correctness of execution.
There are two kinds of rollups…
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Oct 2, 2022
Episode 45 - Layer 1, Layer 2, and Scalability
Initially, there were only one kind of blockchain networks where ledger storage and execution of transactions both happened on-chain. These blockchains were not scalable because of the topics and reasons mentioned in some of the previous episodes.
To achieve scalability and throughput, some solutions try to decouple or divide this work across on-chain and off-chain systems. Some solutions move the execution of tractions outside the chain while keeping the ledger state on the chain. Some other solutions delegate the work to smaller blockchains outside the main chain.
All the these solutions, broadly, come under the umbrella of layer 2 scalability solutions. The main chain where the ledger state and security comes from is the referred to as layer 1.
The basic concept is to scale layer 1 blockchains, we offload or delegate some of the execution to layer 2 solutions. The security comes from layer 1 while the scalability comes from layer 2.
For example, Ethereum and Bitcoin are layer 1…
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Sep 26, 2022
Episode 44 - Block Gas Limit, Block Period, and Blockchain Scalability
When we talk about blockchain scalability — which has been the theme for some of the current episodes — we must understand how the block gas limit plays an important role in the scalability discussion.
In general, for any public smart contracts blockchain, it is important to measure and charge for the resource usage while executing smart contract logic. For this, we have gas. The concept of gas makes sure the user pays for the logic they want to execute on the chain. This discourages several kinds of attacks on the blockchain.
Now let’s understand what block gas limit is. A blockchain block is basically a collection of transactions along with some metadata. A transaction is a packet of data that represents a message from a user to a blockchain. So, in totality, a block is just a bigger packet of data. Another thing is blockchains are peer to peer networks. Which means nodes propagate blocks to their peers during the consensus process. There is also a concept of block time which…
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Sep 19, 2022
Episode 43 - The Ethereum Merge
Since its beginning, the Ethereum network has been using the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. As we know, PoW consumes a lot of energy. Now the Ethereum network is moving to Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.
The merge is when the switch from PoW to PoS is going to happen.
Since the December of 2020, there has been a PoS network running in parallel, called the beacon chain. The existing PoW network (main net) and the beacon chain would merge into one and the block production would happen via PoS mechanism. That’s the merge.
All accounts, balances, and smart contracts history of the current Ethereum network would remain intact and only the block production mechanism would change. Before merge — PoW blocks. After merge — PoS blocks.
Read more about the merge here — https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/
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 episodes.b…
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Sep 12, 2022
Episode 42 - Blockchain Performance vs. Scalability
When it comes to blockchains, we use the terms performance, scalability, transactions per second (TPS) many times interchangeably. But these are all very different things. I recently read an article on a16z crypto where all these terms were nicely explained and clarified. I encourage you to read this article.
https://a16zcrypto.com/why-blockchain-performance-is-hard-to-measure/
In this episode of the podcast, I am sharing my understanding, mainly after reading this article, of blockchain performance and scalability and how they are different from each other.
Basically, performance is about the current throughput of a blockchain while scalability is about the capability of a system to increase performance by taking certain measures.
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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Sep 5, 2022
Episode 41 - Blockchain Sharding
In the last episode I spoke about blockchain scalability and how sharding is one of the ways to achieve that. In this episode, let’s do a double click on blockchain sharding.
Sharding, in general, is a term associated with traditional databases. When a database grows too big, it could be divided into smaller databases across several servers based on some property of data. For example, a database with all the names of people in an organization could be divided into 26 servers, each having the names starting with one letter of English alphabet. Each of these servers would be shards of the database. So this is about sharding of databases.
Now let’s consider sharding in blockchains. We know blockchains don’t scale much because all the nodes have to verify all the blocks. Sharding in blockchains is about dividing a blockchain into smaller sub-blockchains and each of these sub-blockchains maintains and verifies their own state. The blocks of these sub-blockchains are produced, valida…
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Aug 22, 2022
Episode 40 - Blockchain Scalability
Some of you must have seen on the internet that how Bitcoin and Ethereum and much slower than Visa and other centralized financial systems. The reason is blockchain scalability trilemma. Bitcoin and Ethereum have chose to be more secure and decentralized, and hence they have to give up scalability.
In the last episode, I spoke about the Blockchain Trilemma. About how blockchain could have only two of decentralization, security, and scalability at a time. I also mentioned that there are some approaches and solutions being implemented and researched to circumvent the trilemma. The main purpose of these solutions is to make the blockchains scalable while keeping them decentralized and secure enough.
Most of these solutions fall into the broader category of blockchain scalability solutions. In this episode, we’ll briefly take a look at some of these.
Sharding: The first of the blockchain scalability solutions is sharding. Basically sharding is about distributing the production and ver…
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Aug 18, 2022
Episode 39 - Blockchain Trilemma
Blockchains are decentralized networks where all the data is stored and verified by all nodes. To make blockchains usable for real world use cases, they should process large amounts of data. But when all nodes have to process all the data for each block, it is not easy to process a lot of transactions quickly. Blockchains are also public and permission-less networks, hence it is critical that they stay secure.
The blockchain trilemma says that blockchains could have any two of decentralization, security, and scalability at a time.
For blockchains to be decentralized, they should be able to run on commodity hardware so that many users could run the nodes.
Security, in context of blockchains, means that they can continue to work correctly and honestly, even if large number of nodes are byzantine. See last episode for byzantine faults.
Scalability is simply processing large number of transactions per unit of time.
If a blockchain has smaller number of nodes verifying the data, it is…
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Aug 8, 2022
Episode 38 - Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Blockchains are basically peer to peer networks of nodes. The chain progresses when majority of the nodes or peers agree on the state of the blockchain and the validity of the next block. What happens when these nodes don’t agree or when they misbehave?
In a network of nodes, there could be a situation that some of the nodes are either offline, or under an attack, or just not functioning as expected. Also, these nodes are connected with each other using usual networking technology. It could also happen that the network doesn’t work properly between some of the nodes for some interval of time. All of these cases could result in a situation when one or more of the nodes don’t operate as per the rules. Such a situation is called a byzantine fault.
Blockchains, in general, can tolerate byzantine faults up to a certain extent. For example, a network can continue to produce blocks and function normally even if some of the nodes are byzantine. For example, the Bitcoin blockchain can c…
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Aug 2, 2022
Episode 37 - Lifecycle of a Blockchain Transaction
The user or DApp composes a transaction with information like input parameters, cryptographic signature, and some metadata about the blockchain network and a serialized data object is created out of it. All of this happens outside the blockchain using Wallets or DApps.
Transaction Submission
This serialized transaction data is then sent to one of the blockchain nodes using the RPC API.
Transaction Queue
Once the transaction is submitted to the node, some initial validation checks are run on it. If it is found valid, it is placed in the transaction queue of the node. At this time, it is also broadcasted to other nodes connected as peers to this node. Other nodes also run validations on the transaction.
Block Proposal
The transaction, along with other transactions, is then picked up by one of the nodes (assuming it has reached that node’s transaction queue) to be included in the next block they propose. Which node creates the next block is part of the consensus and block producti…
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Jul 25, 2022
Episode 36 - Anatomy of a Blockchain Node
Blockchains are peer to peer network of nodes. These nodes connect with each other and come to consensus on the state of the blockchain. All these nodes are basically computers running the blockchain node software. Let’s look at all the components of a blockchain node that come together to make it all possible.
* Storage: This is the most basic component of the blockchain node. This is where the state of the blockchain is stored. In general, this is simply a database optimized for blockchain use-cases. All the Merkle tree logic and related functions are implemented in the storage component of the blockchain node.
* Networking: Using the networking component, the nodes connect with each other and pass messages. Without the networking component, there would be no network, and there would be no consensus. This component is mainly comprised of two sub-components — discovery and message passing. Using discovery, the nodes find and connect with their close peers, and using messaging th…
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Jul 18, 2022
Episode 35 - Oracles
Blockchains form consensus when all the nodes agree on the data they process. This depends on the condition that the computation at each node should be deterministic. That means each node should arrive at the same output, for a particular set of inputs, no matter what hardware they are using.
The deterministic nature of blockchain logic ensures strong consensus. For this reason, blockchains work on the data that is already on the chain or supplied by the transactions from the users as input. By design, blockchain don’t depend on external data sources when executing transaction logic.
However, in several use cases, external data is needed to be supplied to smart contracts to execute the end to end logic. Let’s take an example. Let’s say we have an insurance use-case implemented using smart contracts on a blockchain. The insurance amount is held in the smart contract as an escrow, and it would be paid to the user/customer only when certain conditions are met. The data about these…
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Jul 11, 2022
Episode 34 - On-Chain vs. Off-Chain Data
Blockchains are decentralized systems and are relatively slower than the centralized distributed systems. This is because decentralized systems have each node processing all the data so that they could not be hacked or influenced by a single point of control or failure. Processing all the data by all the nodes also makes things slow.
In order to still make use of blockchains and decentralized systems in real world use-cases, where millions of users could use them in spite of their low throughput, we have to follow certain best practices. One of these best practice is about what kind of data should be stored on and processed by the blockchains.
This definitely depends on the use-case we are using blockchains for, but it is an important design decision to make blockchains scale. For example, in use-cases like supply chain and data reconciliation among several parties, we should only put that data on blockchain which is critical for verification and consensus. All other data should be o…
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Jul 4, 2022
Episode 33 - Distributed vs. Decentralized Systems
Decentralized systems are fundamentally different from distributed systems. While in distributed systems we can add more servers to handle more load, we cannot do that in decentralized systems. Also, because distributed systems have a single point of control and failure because they process the data only at a single node. Decentralized systems don’t have that shortcoming because all nodes in the network verify the data. This makes decentralized systems much more secure.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 27, 2022
Episode 32 - Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
Blockchains allow seamless and transparent distribution of tokens and these tokens can represent pretty much anything. It can be something of a financial value, identity, or right to vote that can be tokenized on the blockchain.
Recall that to update the state of a blockchain, users send signed transactions, and based on the validity of these transactions the updates are applied to the blockchain. When an update requires multiple users to approve it, we use multi-signature transactions and wallets.
Now let’s combine these two concepts and imagine an organization’s entire governance based on a blockchain, where users have the right to vote by sending transactions. We can design an organization by programming the decision-making logic in the smart contracts. This logic can then be used to govern the finances, strategy, and other important aspects of an organization in a fully transparent and decentralized manner.
Users can have voting rights based on the tokens they own. The votin…
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Jun 20, 2022
Episode 31 - Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
If we look at the dictionary definition of the term fungible, it says “being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.”
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fungible
Let’s take an example. If you have a 1 dollar bill, you can exchange it for another 1 dollar bill. When we deposit cash in a bank and then withdraw some or all of it, we don’t get back the same currency notes that we deposited. But we still accept that money because these notes have the same total value. Hence, fiat currencies are fungible.
The same applies to cryptocurrencies, a bitcoin can be easily exchanged for another bitcoin because all bitcoins have the same value.
Non-fungible would then mean that something cannot be exchanged for another thing of the same kind. Let’s take an example — an original painting from a painter cannot be exchanged for another painting of the same kind because there is only one original and it h…
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Jun 13, 2022
Episode 30 - Crypto Exchanges
Exchanges allow users to buy, sell, and exchange cryptocurrencies. Just like we have stock and forex exchanges for buying and selling shares and foreign currencies, similarly we have exchanges for cryptocurrencies.
In general, crypto exchanges allow buying and selling of cryptocurrencies using fiat currencies or stablecoins or other cryptocurrencies. For example, you can buy bitcoin using USD and sell bitcoin for USD. You can also convert bitcoin into ether and vice versa, using a crypto exchange.
Crypto exchanges are of two kinds — centralized and decentralized.
Centralized exchanges are basically order book based platforms that manage keys for the users, and make blockchain transactions on behalf of the user. All trades go through a central server. They allow exchange of crypto with fiat and accept fiat payments and withdrawals. Centralized exchanges generally provide custody services to users for their purchased tokens. This means the users don’t have control on their wallets…
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Jun 6, 2022
Episode 29 - Stablecoins
Cryptocurrencies are generally volatile. There are several reasons for that — low liquidity, speculation, and several other factors. There could be more reasons, but generally speaking, cryptocurrencies have been relatively more volatile compared to fiat currencies.
This volatility does not help with the value transfer use cases of cryptocurrencies. If the price is not stable, the value transferred or committed may not represent the services provided in return. For example, if a buyer and seller agree to transact using a cryptocurrency for a service or product, and by the time it is delivered if the value of that cryptocurrency changes too much then the entire trade could be unfair or undervalued, or overvalued.
To avoid these volatility issues and to still use the features of cryptocurrencies (decentralization, middlemen-less transfers, security, etc.), stablecoins are used.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies backed by or pegged to other currencies or commodities that have relative…
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May 30, 2022
Episode 28 - Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
Central bank digital currencies broadly refer to the digital versions of fiat currencies.
The fiat currencies are issued by the central banks of respective countries. These currencies are issued based on the economic conditions and needs for trade and commerce in a country. Previously, the fiat currencies were issued based on gold reserves. The process of minting and maintaining these currencies requires quite a bit of work in terms of printing, logistics, transfers, reserves, etc. There is a lot of paperwork and many of layers of bureaucratic processes in currency management at the central bank level.
On the other hand, digital/crypto currencies like bitcoin are issued on a decentralized network and are relatively easy to manage considering they are governed via code and consensus rather than via bureaucratic processes. This brings in a ton of efficiency.
Inspired by the idea of crypto currencies, some of the fiat currency issuers have been experimenting with the idea of issuing di…
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May 23, 2022
Episode 27 - Liquidity Pools, Swaps, and Yield Farming
Financial services are generally based on transfer of funds between parties. For example, when we borrow money from banks that money is deposited by someone. They earn interest for depositing their money, and we pay interest on the loan. The money moves between the depositor and borrower through the bank. On a larger scale, many people deposit money at the bank and the bank then lends that money to potentially many borrowers.
This involves the bank to manage large amount of currency, which, in turn, allows the bank to provide several financial services (forex, etc.). The bank basically pools money from many depositors to create a liquidity pool. The bank is also a centralized service provider.
Now let’s try to apply the same concept to decentralized systems. To provide financial services using decentralized applications — also known as DeFi or Decentralized Finance — users deposit (lock) their tokens in smart contracts to help create liquidity pools. Borrowers then borrow these…
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May 16, 2022
Episode 26 - Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Decentralized Finance is more of a field comprising platforms, standards, and applications focused on providing financial services using decentralized technologies.
Generally, when it comes to traditional financial services, we deposit savings, borrow money, buy insurance, etc. Most of the time we interface with financial institutions that govern the terms and and conditions of these services. The process is like a black box, too opaque considering money matters. We, as users, do not have a lot of control over how our money is being used by financial institutions.
Also, there are too many steps involved in the processes of applying for and receiving these services from traditional financial institutions.
What if these financial services became more transparent so that we have full visibility about your money? Also, what if you don’t have to fill a lot of forms just to get a small loan?
This is what DeFi intends to solve. It allows you to have visibility about your money, gives yo…
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Sep 20, 2020
Episode 25 - Multi-Signature Wallets (MultiSigs)
Every transaction in a blockchain is signed by the sender. The signing of transactions is done using cryptographic signing algorithms, as described in episode 6 of the podcast.
In some scenarios, to perform an operation on the blockchain, there is a need to have more than one signatures on a transaction. Think of bank accounts with joint holders. Similarly, blockchain wallets could also be owned jointly by a group of accounts. These wallets are called multi-signature wallets or multi-sigs.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Sep 13, 2020
Episode 24 - Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
One way of doing crowdfunding for software projects is an Initial Coin Offering, better called ICO. In blockchain applications, the developers create tokens so that their users can spend them to use the application. Selling these tokens is a way for the developers to get paid for their work.
Let’s understand more in this episode.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Sep 6, 2020
Episode 23 - Tokens
Tokens are digital assets representing a user’s right to use a system/service/application or to participate in a process based on blockchain.
Tokens are similar to cryptocurrencies in terms of issuance and distribution, but they are different in terms of value. A cryptocurrency can be used as a medium of exchange, while a token has only utility or security value.
Let’s understand more in this episode.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 30, 2020
Episode 22 - Proof of Stake
In this episode, we understand what is proof of stack consensus and how it compares with proof of work.
Proof of Stake (PoS) is a blockchain consensus algorithm where the nodes put an economic value on stake to participate in block production. The problem domain is the same — to find out who should produce the next block for the blockchain.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 23, 2020
Episode 21 - Proof of Work
In this episode, we understand what is proof of work and what it solves. We also understand how and why it is used in blockchains.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 16, 2020
Episode 20 - Double Spend
In this episode, we understand the problem of double spend in digital currencies and how it impacts blockchains too. We also look into how blockchains solve double spending.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 9, 2020
Episode 19 - Transaction Fee
In blockchains, the transaction fee is the fee paid to blockchain nodes to include the transaction in a block. Generally, the transaction fee is paid in the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Aug 2, 2020
Episode 18 - Blockchain Economics: Part 2 (Rewards)
In this episode, we continue understanding the blockchain economics concepts and dive a bit deeper into the crypto-economic rewards. Let’s understand what node operators and validators get in return of their services and why.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 26, 2020
Episode 17 - Blockchain Economics: Part 1
In this episode, we cover the most basic aspects of blockchain economics. From the need for cryptocurrencies to incentives to stakeholders, let’s explore it all, in brief.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 19, 2020
Episode 16 - Blockchain is NOT (just) Bitcoin
In this episode, we take a slightly tangential topic to understand how is blockchain technology not just bitcoin. Considering bitcoin came first and later blockchain became popular, let’s get clarity on the two.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 12, 2020
Episode 15 - Block Finality
The finality of a block means that the majority of the nodes in a blockchain network have verified and accepted that block and their state has been updated accordingly. Finality assures that the transactions included in a block will not become invalid because of any reason.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 5, 2020
Episode 14 - Fork
In this episode, we discuss blockchain forks - what they are and what causes them.
For multiple parties to reach consensus, they must follow some rules. Rules regarding how to decide who would produce blocks and when, the interval between blocks, how big or small the blocks could be, and so on. These rules are together part of the consensus algorithm of the chain.
When some of the nodes decide not to update to the new rules, then a fork happens on the chain. Forks are of two types — soft and hard.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jul 1, 2020
Episode 13 - Blockchain Governance
Blockchains are decentralized systems. There is no single point of control or administration. In contrast to other IT systems, there is no admin in a blockchain. Instead, blockchains are governed.
To make updates to the rules of a blockchain, every participant must agree directly or indirectly. Blockchain governance comprises the processes to coordinate this agreement.
In this episode, we understand different ways of doing blockchain governance.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 28, 2020
Episode 12 - Public and Private Chains
In this episode, we understand types of blockchain networks depending on who can read the state and who can participate in block production (updating the state).
In a permission-less blockchain, anyone can participate in the block production process, while in a permissioned blockchain, only selected nodes can produce blocks.
In a public blockchain, anyone can read the state (data), while in a private blockchain, only the intended users or nodes can read the data.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 24, 2020
Episode 11 - Decentralized Apps (DApps)
Blockchains, just by themselves, are a collection of nodes sharing data and agreeing on its state. To make blockchains useful for the end-users, applications are built on top of them. Simply put, applications which use a decentralized backend (like a blockchain), are called Decentralized Applications or DApps.
A simple example of a DApp is software wallet applications that allow the user to query and transfer balance on a blockchain while interacting with a familiar user-interface.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 21, 2020
Episode 10 - Smart Contracts
Smart Contracts allow users to extend the business logic of blockchains. Just the transfer of bitcoin and ether might only help with a subset of financial use cases and cryptocurrencies. For blockchains to be useful in more scenarios, they should be able to execute any kind of business logic and not just transfer of cryptocurrency. This is exactly what smart contracts provide — execution of any kind of business logic on the chain.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 17, 2020
Episode 9 - Wallets
In contrast to the physical wallet in which we keep currency notes, a digital or blockchain wallet does not hold digital currency. Instead, the wallet holds the cryptographic keys so that they could be used is a simpler way. A more widely accepted definition of a blockchain wallet is a software program or a hardware device that could be used to store cryptographic keys associated with one or more blockchain accounts. In this episode, we explore wallets 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 episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 14, 2020
Episode 8 - Accounts and Keys
Accounts are a way of representing users on the blockchain. Just like we have accounts in banks, generally represented by account numbers or IBANs, we have accounts in blockchains too. In a blockchain, accounts are generally a representation of a user’s cryptographic public key.
In this episode, we cover accounts and cryptographic keys - public key cryptography and its application in blockchains.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 10, 2020
Episode 7 - Block Production and Mining
Block Production is the process of proposing and appending new blocks to the blockchain so that the state of the chain could be updated. The state update happens when the transactions included in the blocks are executed on the chain by all the nodes.
In this episode we go into the details of how blocks are produced in blockchains and what is mining.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 7, 2020
Episode 6 - Signing
Signing is the process of associating user’s identity with information that is originating from the user.
In this episode, we discuss digital and cryptographic signing and how it is used in blockchains.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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Jun 3, 2020
Episode 5 - Hashing
Hashing is the process of deriving fixed-length strings from arbitrary-length data. It is generally used to represent data in a more compact and consistent format.
In this episode we discuss hashing, hash functions, and their usage in blockchains.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 31, 2020
Episode 4 - Transactions and Blocks
Transactions are small bundles of information that are used to propose updates to the state of the blockchain. Users sign and submit transactions to one or more nodes, and based on their validity, they are executed by all other nodes to update the state of the blockchain.
Transactions are grouped into blocks. Blocks are then processed one-at-a-time to execute all included transactions together.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 27, 2020
Episode 3 - Blockchain Node & Network
A blockchain has several core functions like storage, networking, consensus, etc. All these are coded and packaged together in the blockchain node software. This software is then distributed to the users willing to participate in the blockchain validation or mining process.
Blockchain node software running on a physical or virtual machine and accepting connections is a blockchain node.
When several nodes connect with each other and exchange information like blocks and transactions, we get a blockchain network. So, in essence, a network is a collection of interconnected nodes.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 24, 2020
Episode 2 - Consensus
In the context of blockchains, consensus is the agreement on the state of the blockchain among all the nodes in a network. The main area where consensus is needed is the order of transactions, within a block. If all nodes could agree on the order in which the transactions happened, then they would individually arrive at the same state after processing the respective blocks.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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May 20, 2020
Episode 1 - Blockchain
Welcome to Block Shots. In this first episode, the topic is introduction to blockchain with a basic example.
Blockchain is a system that allows two or more mutually unknown parties to reach an agreement without middlemen. The agreement could be on the state of any kind of data: Fintech — accounts and balances (like in Bitcoin). There is no single point of control and failure in a blockchain.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit episodes.blockshots.fm
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