Trustnote: A Beacon of PoW

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue in the past year. Whether it is buying bitcoin, bitcoin mining, or getting in early on a new ICO, recent times has seen an explosion of interest in this emerging technology among people from all walks of life.

Just as cryptocurrency and blockchain can be borderless, so too is the interest in it truly global. Three factors are often overlooked in this phenomenon by a casual observer. The challenges that remain in bringing this new technology into being, the many paths available to pursue that growth and reality how we respond to these challenges today will have real impact on that growth tomorrow. TrustNote understands the central to this is the need to grow a decentralized freedom of innovation. By combining proof-of work and DAG based ledger structure all together, TrustNote brings a truly decentralized and democratized ledger technology.

Where We Are Today

The potential of cryptocurrency and blockchain is immense. This is recognised now, and pointed to as a symbol of future innovation and disruption. It’s also true much of the progress made so far in these fields has been really commendable.

Such growth is fantastic, but it would be a mistake to suggest the progress made so far is sufficient — we’ve barely scratched the surface. We also face growing pressures to grow faster.

Proof of Stake In-Depth

The Proof-of-Stake (PoS) or Delegated Proof-of-stake model (DPoS) is the consensus algorithm in which the nodes over the network receive voting rights! It sounds democratic — but it actually isn’t!

The problem has its origin in the fact this voting is not based on an equal right, and will not be counted or evaluated based on the amount of the wealth each node has, that’s why it is called PoS.

The problem with this concept is that wealthy nodes will get richer by collecting the transaction fees, and potentially give them higher chance to perform malicious behaviour over the time!

Even with the assumption they’re honest nodes and won’t display harmful behaviour on the network, the network is still at security risk. The reason is these nodes should always (or most of the time) be online, which means they’re more vulnerable to security attacks such as rooting (the state in which the user loses control of its own system).

Furthermore, assuming no transaction fee over the network, this behaviour is dangerous as it’s a profit-centered governance model. Let’s take a look at some blockchain projects!

NANO/RaiBlocks In-Depth

NANO or RaiBlocks is usually among the top 30 in the CoinMarketCap list. NANO adopted a DPoS model in which users with a lower amount of the wealth can delegate their vote to the accounts with a higher amount of wealth! This is a big problem, and due to structural design. After all, why should users trust anyone in a Trust-less network?

Further, considering the list of official representative nodes they’re offering the users — as the picture below shows (accessed at: 20/06/2018) — the representative nodes, and their voting power, makes it obvious more than 51% of the voting power is in control of only five representatives. We can see there are plenty of security risks and attack vectors with very high probability of success available for this network.

This problem is not limited to NANO, this issue is caused by PoS or DPoS consensus model and can have the same consequences for any network with the same consensus model. Although, this model might offer a higher transaction throughput but with the cost of losing “True Decentralization”, “Democracy” over the network and putting network at security risk!

What We Must Do Tomorrow

In 2018 the world is approaching a digital fork in the road. One where the choices we make today will uphold the values that have delivered us to this point of progression — or start to fade the fire.

If we get it wrong, we will look back one day and say what we’ve achieved prior were ‘golden years’, instead of a foundation for the future. This is seen in numerous debates, within net neutrality, user data, and of course the blockchain.

Blockchain is so often pointed to by optimists as a technology that will by default deliver greater fairness and progress technologically, economically, politically — and even psychologically!

Optimism is wonderful, but will always ultimately progress when it’s underwritten by hard work.

Make no mistake, for those of us who intend to maintain hard-earned progress and build on it, the future will require greater advocacy for tech that can deliver it, and greater adoption of it in turn.

The Battle Ahead

For those with an active interest in this space, the future of distributed ledger technology will be our battleground. It is estimated there are 86,000 blockchain projects in motion at present. The centrepiece of the blockchain debate will be surrounding the victory of permissionless blockchain over permission. Permissionless will invite and encourage, permissioned will restrict and turn away.

While this blockchain debate will be prominent, within this space also exists an alternative. Using Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) technology as an organisational model. To offer the same benefits blockchain technology can, but also go beyond it. Offering a better system, with greater benefits for all users across the board. Doing so to better not only blockchain’s offerings, but DAG’s too.

The ambition to not only drive this new technology forward, but also optimise the process for users, is at the core of our mission at Trustnote. Right now bitcoin and blockchain enjoy great popularity, but they also have fundamental flaws. The transaction times are slow, and with this becoming apparent so too has confidence shrunk in its capacity to deliver on its potential.

Furthermore, while some cryptos like Etherium have made headlines with the news it will shift from POW to (POS), POW finds a natural home in decentralisation. One that upholds the pioneering vision of Satoshi, and can build on it. The simple concept of buying and selling Bitcoin on its blockchain sees this borne out everyday.

Someone can buy into Bitcoin via a permissionless blockchain. They can also begin mining (even if granted the cost of Bitcoin mining is now high) via the same process. POW makes this ease-of-access possible, and is resistant to the concentration of power over the node into the hands of just a few when capital cannot be converted to work. POS cannot provide the same, excluding only capital that isn’t acquirable via units of the coin.

While POS may be advantageous as its economically affordable (using less electricity than a Bitcoin mining rig) it is also deeply flawed when it comes to maintaining the spirit of decentralisation first seen with Satoshi’s Bitcoin. By delegating the power to maintain a public ledge to node dependent on the number of coins it holds‚ it represents a centralisation akin to a central bank.

On That Note

TrustNote is different, seeking to combine proof-of-work (POW) with the DAG ledger structure.

What this combination offers is a more secure and scalable setup. What we also seek to offer is a DAG model that will also allow for mining, what we call the TrustMe consensus.

This will combine the best of both worlds, delivering a faster network than bitcoin’s blockchain, while also allowing for mining that ensures users of our DAG ledger can enjoy the same confidence and peace of mind they have when using bitcoin’s blockchain.

Right now we see debate rage back and forth about POS and delegated proof of stake (dpos). This debate is not going to go anywhere anytime soon — but what I want those who participate in it to understand is there’s a better way on offer here. One that seeks to maintain the founding decentralisation principles of Bitcoin’s blockchain, while also pioneering the next era of innovation.

Conclusion

What TrustNote offers is proof-of-work based incentives, and via DAG, a speed and certainty that is unrivalled. This is a path for true decentralisation, greater opportunity, and real equality. It is also the foundation for a future that is unwilling to witness or allow the advances we have made in this space to ebb and slip away into a world of centralised control.

As technologists, and people as a whole, we’re already with that world. Much hard work has gone into changing it, and opening it, despite the resistance of some. Just as we’ve made real progress, so must we work hard to conserve it. To know we can scale our technology, without losing its capacity for decentralisation which must always make up its heart and soul.

That means building the platform, and setting a precedent in the work we do in this space, to ensure decentralisation becomes a real building block for our future, and not a historical term.

To learn more about TrustNote visit its website at trustnote.org, TrustNote’s Github repository can also be accessed here.