Three forms of blockchain development: public chain, private chain and alliance chain

Blockchain technology has been under the banner of decentralization since its birth, but with the rapid development of technology, three different forms have emerged: the blockchain represented by Bitcoin and Ethereum is technically speaking It can be completely decentralized. However, in terms of management, due to different development concepts or goals of the enterprise, blockchain has two application directions: one is completely decentralized, and the other is effective/limited decentralized applications.

Completely decentralized

The verification machine on the blockchain can be added arbitrarily without restriction. Each verification machine has equal rights to participate in the work verification of the entire network and the distribution of revenue. Its main features are equality of machines, equality of all nodes and equality of all people. The advantage is to ensure fairness, and the disadvantage is that it cannot guarantee efficiency. Bitcoin and Ethereum are common technical manifestations of public chains.

Effective/limited decentralization

The verification machine on the blockchain is restricted by the management agency, and only authorized nodes can join. The authorized nodes enjoy the same rights. Its main feature is the relative equality in exchange for a certain efficiency. Its advantages are higher efficiency and easier commercialization, but its disadvantage is that it cannot guarantee absolute fairness. The technical performance forms are mostly private chains and alliance chains.

The goal of complete decentralization is absolute freedom and absolute privacy. But in reality, this is just an ideal and a goal. Pure freedom is not necessarily good, and the choice of the whole people is not necessarily optimal. The effective/limited decentralization is to sacrifice a part of absolute freedom and equality to obtain certain benefits. For example, without so many mining machines, you can save costs and avoid the waste of mining energy; for example, you can start with an industry, firstly interconnect within the industry, secondly expand to the interconnection of various industries, and finally achieve the interconnection of all things. A step-by-step rhythm is more commercially viable; for example, selective decisions can be used to avoid group errors.

With the development of blockchain technology, different blockchain technology forms have emerged: private chain, public chain and alliance chain.

Private Blockchains (Private Blockchains)

With the gradual attention of Bitcoin, the concept of private blockchain has become a hot topic in the discussion of blockchain technology. Essentially, private blockchains can create tighter access control, modification, and even more control than fully open, uncontrolled systems that use encryption to ensure network security (such as POW and POS) The read permission is limited to the system of a few users, while this system still retains the authenticity of the blockchain and the characteristics of partial decentralization. Although the private chain completely deviates from the original intention of the blockchain to be completely decentralized, in practical development and application of blockchain network technology to solve problems in certain ranges is obviously a highly efficient way, or in some Private chains will also have good applications in areas that do not require complete decentralization.

Public Blockchains (Public Blockchains)

Public blockchain refers to a blockchain that can be read by anyone in the world, anyone can send transactions, and transactions can be effectively confirmed, and anyone can participate in the consensus verification process-the consensus process determines which Blocks can be added to the blockchain and clarify the current state.

As an alternative to centralized or quasi-centralized trust, the security of the public blockchain is maintained by the "encrypted digital economy"-the "encrypted digital economy" uses POW and POS and other methods to combine economic rewards and encrypted digital verification. And follow the general principle: the economic reward that everyone can get from it is proportional to the contribution to the consensus process. These blockchains are generally considered to be "fully decentralized". Everyone can participate in mining, and everyone involved in mining is equal. The value rewards obtained by anyone participating in mining are also equal. This makes it easy to reach a consensus of complete decentralization.

Consortium Blockchains

Alliance blockchain refers to a blockchain whose consensus process is controlled by pre-selected nodes.

We can imagine a coalition of 15 financial institutions, each of which runs a node, and in order to make each block effective, we need to get confirmation from 10 of them. The blockchain may allow everyone to read it, or only limited to participants, or take a mixed route, such as the root hash of the block and its API (application programming interface) open to the public. Query and obtain information about the state of the blockchain. These blockchains can be regarded as "partially decentralized. The alliance chain is feasible in many industries. For example, in today's logistics industry, the industry's leading companies are the first to lead the establishment of logistics blockchains, and then various enterprises in the industry are successive Join to jointly form a blockchain alliance in the logistics industry. Every enterprise runs a node. To make each block on the chain effective, you have to obtain 51% or more enterprise node confirmation. All the joined nodes are in the alliance. Internally operate in an effective or limited form of decentralization.

A simple comparison:

Regardless of the direction of development, blockchain technology is getting closer to our lives and changing our lives. Nine Zero will continue to interpret the development and application of blockchain technology for everyone.