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Network consensus is an important part of the blockchain system. The design of the consensus mechanism is directly related to the performance and security of the blockchain system. Since the birth of Bitcoin, people have been constantly exploring and striving to improve the network consensus mechanism of the blockchain.
At the beginning, Bitcoin pioneered a consensus method based on proof of work, or POW. Early virtual currencies were all based on the POW method as the basic principle. New virtual currencies were issued by modifying parameters such as the total amount of currency, the time interval between blocks, and the number of new coins generated in each block. These virtual currencies were not innovative in principle compared to Bitcoin. The consensus methods all had disadvantages such as wasting resources, uncontrollable number of nodes, uneven node quality, and the risk of 51% attack.
Later, some "secondary tokens" represented by Peercoin invented a consensus method based on proof of stake, namely POS. The use of POS has enabled these currencies to avoid the endless arms race in the mining industry. Users no longer need to consider the efficiency of CPU, graphics card or mining machine. They only need to hold a large amount of virtual currency and participate in the consensus according to the rules designed for the currency. The POS method solves the problem of resource waste very well, but it is still not ideal in terms of node quantity and node quality control. Imagine: if someone holds a large amount of such a coin, his network is very poor, but he has been participating in the consensus, so he will not only affect the network quality of this currency, but also affect the yield of others, which may lead to a decrease in the number of high-quality nodes, which is not conducive to the stability of the entire network of this currency.
Later, BM, the founder of the original BitShares, invented the consensus method of proxy proof of stake, namely DPOS, and after experiments and reasoning, he concluded that 101 nodes are completely sufficient for the blockchain, and BitShares has indeed been running safely and stably for a long time with only more than 20 nodes. The DPOS mechanism further saves resources, and the number of nodes is also well controlled, but it is still unable to do its best in terms of node quality control, and it has brought new problems of fairness. This is mainly reflected in the election of agents. Agents selected subjectively by humans cannot convince everyone, and the system can do nothing about the agents' lack of effort after taking office, and the voters' response is often seriously delayed. Imagine that if someone becomes a duty agent and his network suddenly fails, then for a long time afterwards, everyone can only watch him lose blocks until he repairs the network or everyone withdraws their votes to elect him out. What a terrible thing!
Now, the most well-known and hottest one in the market is Ethereum, which uses a consensus mechanism that combines POW and POS. This consensus mechanism does not have any major technological innovation, but only effectively combines the two methods and weakens their respective shortcomings. However, it does not improve the common shortcomings of POW and POS, such as the uncontrollable number of nodes and the high and low quality of nodes. These problems still exist.
After talking about the consensus methods and advantages and disadvantages of most virtual currencies, let's look at the consensus method of Inchain. Inchain adopts a unique POC consensus mechanism. POC is the original and unique consensus mechanism of Inchain. It is undeniable that it is improved on the basis of POS mechanism, but it is essentially different from POS. It has the following main characteristics:
(1) The necessary condition for participating in consensus is that both the deposit and credit value must meet the minimum requirements.
(2) The amount of the deposit changes with the number of nodes. The more nodes there are, the higher the deposit amount is, and vice versa. Those who join the consensus later need more deposit than those who join the consensus first.
(3) The credit value is directly related to the consensus maker’s computer hardware configuration, network conditions, and personal investment. Generally speaking, in order to obtain a higher credit value, these three aspects cannot be too bad.
(4) If a node loses a block, the system will automatically kick it out of the consensus queue. It will not have the chance to lose a block a second time before manually applying to re-participate in the consensus, and the entire process does not require human intervention.
(5) The system has a delegated consensus function. After executing this function, the wallet that actually participates in the consensus does not need to be opened, and the wallet that opens the consensus can be the trustee's empty wallet.
Based on the above characteristics, the Yinlian system has the following advantages:
1. Guaranteed fairness of consensus. First, all consensus rules are open and transparent, and are locked by the program. There is no need for human intervention such as voting and elections, and everyone has the same rights. Secondly, in addition to holding a sufficient number of tokens, the qualification conditions for participating in the consensus also require credit points. The amount of credit points is directly related to hardware configuration, network conditions, and investment of energy, which reduces the risk of large players who do nothing and enjoy the fruits of others' labor. In addition, once the consensus is successfully participated in, the rights and obligations of each node are equal, and there will be no phenomenon of barbaric large players acting recklessly, which ensures the fairness of the consensus.
2. Promoted active competition for consensus nodes. The amount of security deposit required varies depending on the order of participation in consensus. I think this setting is very good. Some people may not understand and think that this is unfair. So let me ask: if people who participate in consensus earlier have higher average skills and attention than those who participate in consensus later, do you agree? Is it more beneficial to the Inchain system to allow people with better skills and higher enthusiasm to stay in the Inchain community for a long time? Giving more rights and interests to those who are more beneficial to the system will not promote the development and progress of the system?
3. The number of consensus nodes is stable and controllable. Since the margin required for participating in the consensus in the early stage is small, and the margin required for participating in the consensus in the later stage is increasing, therefore, when there are fewer consensus nodes, the threshold for participating in the consensus is lower and the rate of return is higher, more people will be attracted to join the consensus team, resulting in an increase in consensus nodes; when there are more consensus nodes, the threshold for participating in the consensus is higher and the rate of return is lower, everyone's willingness to participate in the consensus will decrease, and some people may withdraw from the consensus, resulting in a decrease in consensus nodes. Based on the above situation, we can predict that the number of consensus nodes will eventually stabilize at a fixed value. At this number of consensus nodes, the yield of the Inchain consensus is close to the average mining yield of the same industry during the same period.
4. Guaranteed the quality of consensus nodes. On the one hand, due to the special admission and kick-out mechanism of the Inchain consensus, users with low computer configuration, poor operating system maintenance, unstable network conditions, and less human attention will find it difficult to maintain the credit value required to participate in the consensus for a long time, and will be excluded from the consensus node team, while high-quality nodes with relatively good conditions can be screened and retained. On the other hand, since the number of consensus nodes is limited and the possibility of continued growth is small, and the daily consensus reward is fixed, the income range of each node can be predicted. We assume that there are 89 nodes, requiring a deposit of 230,000 Inchains, and a daily consensus income of about 97, with an annual yield of about 15.4%, which is quite good. Because the node income is good and the number is limited, it can motivate each node to strive to improve its own level, thereby ensuring that the consensus nodes continue to maintain a high quality level.
5. Ensure the security of consensus nodes. In the past, other virtual currencies not only required the wallet to be open all the time, but many currencies also required the wallet to be unlocked, which was exposed to the network and had great risks. The previous theft of virtual currency was related to or similar to this. In the previous feature introduction, we have found that Inchain effectively avoids this risk through the delegated consensus function and ensures the security of the consensus node wallet funds. This technology is original in the industry.
6. Eliminate the hidden danger of 51% attack. POW coins are in danger of being attacked by more than 50% of the computing power, and POS coins are in danger of being attacked by more than 50% of the holdings. Inchain is improved on the basis of POS. How much holdings will be in danger of being attacked? I don’t know, there is no way to calculate it, anyway, it is much greater than 50%, maybe no matter how much holdings, it cannot be attacked. Why? The key lies in the floating margin mechanism of Inchain! The earliest participants in the consensus of Inchain are often development team members or core community members. Those who want to launch an attack can generally only increase the number of nodes they control later, and the margin will increase for each additional node. Therefore, if you want to control more than half of the nodes, holding 50% of the tokens is far from enough. How much is enough depends on the number of nodes that have been established before. When the number of nodes before reaches a certain value (note: this number is a bit difficult to calculate), even if you buy all the remaining tokens, it is not enough to establish more than half of the consensus nodes. Therefore, it is almost impossible to launch a 51% attack on Inchain, both in theory and in reality.
Now that we understand the characteristics and advantages of the Inchain consensus mechanism, let’s take a look at the leopard. Do you feel the brilliance of the Inchain system design? By the way, although the Inchain system design is very clever, complex, and powerful, the client is indeed very streamlined, convenient, and easy to use. If you don’t believe it, go and experience it yourself!
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