That is an opinion editorial by Moustafa Amin, a expertise chief with greater than 20 years {of professional} expertise throughout giant organizations, service suppliers and telecom corporations.
“Bitcoin Not Blockchain”
In the event you’re a frequent reader of Bitcoin Journal or in case you’re a Bitcoin fanatic on the whole, you may need seen this motto. I got here throughout it quite a few instances and I agree with it 100%.
Generally there may very well be a minor exception, for example when the scope is constrained, the context is personal and there’s no want for tokenization however typically, it’s at all times smart to stay to bitcoin.
Let’s analyze an imaginary case research round IP addresses utilizing a “visitors gentle” analogy — yellow, crimson and inexperienced.
IP Addresses
I assume that the readers are or no less than accustomed to how information communications happen throughout the web primarily based on the IP protocol (TCP/IP if we need to be technically correct). The extra technological readers might pay attention to web protocol (IP) addresses, like IPv4 and IPv6.
Attempt to Google “Who controls IP addresses?” You’ll promptly get “IANA: the Web Assigned Numbers Authority.” IANA is the highest authority behind IP deal with allocation and project. There are 5 totally different regional web registries (RIR) with jurisdiction beneath the IANA.
As a matter of reality, as a person or a standard web consumer you can not request IP addresses immediately from IANA or one of many 5 RIRs, however solely from web service suppliers, such because the companies provided by cellular or telecom operators.
RIRs and their respective areas
From this structure, you possibly can think about a central database of IP addresses held and maintained by IANA.
An imaginary pattern of IP addresses database
Allow us to assume that someday IANA decides to launch a blockchain model of its IP addresses database, wouldn’t that be a professional challenge? The reply relies on their method and their intention for doing so.
Earlier than we proceed, allow us to agree on a few factors:
- The time period blockchain doesn’t at all times check with the underlying expertise of Bitcoin as invented (or found) by Satoshi Nakamoto. As a substitute, it has change into a advertising and marketing time period that’s broadly utilized by distributors as a buzzword to explain their merchandise in both personal or public contexts.
- Even with a decentralized model of the IP addresses database, the IP addresses will at all times stay in IANA’s custody. These sources won’t ever be handed over to the general public group.
The Yellow Path
If IANA cares concerning the integrity, security and safety of their present centralized IP addresses database and desires to make it decentralized over a blockchain by having separate an identical copies of the database held in geographically dispersed areas for decentralization and redundancy, they’d search for an answer that will probably be a mixture of decentralized storage (IPFS for instance) and personal blockchain (cloud-based or open-source). This may very well be in comparison with AWS blockchain, Hyperledger, Multichain, and so forth.
On this case, every regional RIR will probably be accountable for some nodes that run this personal blockchain. Every node will ship and obtain updates over the blockchain whereas storing an an identical always-updated copy of the IP addresses database.
No token will probably be required on this resolution, and the entire resolution will probably be maintained by nodes falling beneath both the jurisdiction of IANA or the RIR. As a matter of reality, IANA can pause, cease, restart, truncate and even delete elements of this personal blockchain at their will.
Principally, this case is just not totally different from the present state of affairs the place IANA can change and even delete elements of the IP addresses database of their centralized database (in the event that they need to). I’m not saying they’d, however they might.
This path is labeled “yellow” as a result of it may very well be acceptable because it doesn’t characterize any threat to outsiders, i.e., there are not any buyers who put up cash for tokens.
The Pink Path
What if IANA decides to launch their blockchain model of IP addresses as a sensible contract dApp — utilizing some platform like Ethereum, and even as a separate public blockchain — and tokenizes the entire thing and perhaps runs crowdfunding occasions to distribute these tokens? I gained’t waste your priceless time discussing this situation any additional: This is able to make it no totally different from the opposite 20,000 ineffective altcoins on the market!
The Inexperienced Path
What if IANA is clever sufficient to maintain their IP addresses database actually decentralized over the one actually decentralized blockchain — Bitcoin — and permitting cost in sats? A attainable choice may very well be an software constructed on prime of Bitcoin or the Lightning Community and built-in with a distributed off-chain storage.
The distributed storage will retailer the precise IP addresses together with their respective house owners. This is able to occur off-chain to keep away from overwhelming the Bitcoin community, however the indexes to the database entries may very well be saved on chain.
To counteract Bitcoin’s pseudonymity, prospects (suppliers or operators) will nonetheless be required to supply identification info for full possession of their IP addresses. Sadly, this might be in full compliance with know-your-customer legal guidelines (KYC) for on-line surveillance, as you may guess.
Whatever the abundance of IP addresses, they’re restricted by nature, that means that IANA can not mint or create new addresses out of skinny air.
Fast reality: there are barely lower than 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses that have been all offered (depletion of IPv4 addresses began again in 2011), whereas there are 340 trillion, trillion, trillion IPv6 addresses — an insanely enormous quantity in order that the minimal IPv6 deal with allocation is split by 32 to be equal to the variety of all IPv4 addresses on the market.
As all transactions will probably be completely saved over the ledger, IANA can’t fiddle and resell the identical chunk of IP addresses to a different proprietor. That is named an “IP deal with block,” to not be confused with Bitcoin blocks.
The Very best Path
What if we exchange the managed and surveilled IP addresses with new web addresses which can be primarily based on Bitcoin? These addresses will inherit all Bitcoin’s options, i.e., they are going to be purely decentralized, safe, future-proof, sturdy, nameless, unhackable, managed by no single authority and lots of extra.
Is it only a dream? For now. If this may very well be true we might be altering the web as we all know it.
This can be a visitor publish by Moustafa Amin. Opinions expressed are fully their very own and don’t essentially mirror these of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Journal.
