It’s been just over 9 years since Bitcoin and the first blockchain came into existence.
It was created out of a desire to provide people with the ability to transfer value to each other without the need for a centralized third party to verify the transactions. Bitcoin’s blockchain is what is called first generation blockchain technology.
There’s now platforms being built that are called second and third generation blockchains, I’m sure fourth and fifth are coming too.
Today let’s take a look at what Bitcoin's kids and grand kids can do.
First generation blockchains focus on moving value, maintaining a ledger, ideal payment systems.
Think of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, and Dash to name a few. These functions represent the core of why bitcoin was created. Another core aspect to Bitcoin is the fact that it was created to be open source. By making the code behind Bitcoin open source, Satoshi Nakamoto gave anyone the opportunity to learn from, build on and expand beyond it.
This is how we’ve made it to the point of having what are called second and third generation blockchains.
Second generation blockchains are those like Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, NEO and QTUM to name a few.
These are considered second generation because they’ve taken this idea of recording transactions on a blockchain and expanded it to incorporate programming languages.
These second generation blockchains have unleashed smart contracts. These allow for customizable transactions. You can custom create transactions to execute however best fits the needs of the parties involved.
Now we’ve come to third generation blockchains, these present themselves as blockchains that can service massive amounts of people and self-govern.
This is when that term “scale” comes to action.
Bitcoin’s huge network is what makes it the most robust, secure and decentralized. But even so, it is showing us how difficult it can be to scale when the network experiences huge influxes of transactions due to an exponential growth of users. The larger Bitcoin’s network grows, the more decentralized it becomes, and some could argue that the harder it is to reach consensus on how to deal with particular issues.
The beauty of open source is that it gives developers the ability to see how a network is designed, and now with the ability to see how things are panning out, they can make changes right from the start in an effort to avoid trouble in the future.
Third generation blockchains have self-governance at their core. This can be seen with, but is not limited to the following blockchains: Bitshares, Steem, Lisk & ARK
These blockchains all use Delegated Proof of Stake.
Although you can certainly argue that this is indeed a type of centralization or bottleneck in an otherwise decentralized system, it’s a system that allows every participant of the network to vote regardless of the amount of coins that they hold.
Delegated Proof of Stake works like this:
There are a set number of Witnesses, usually a small number, who work to mine blocks and monitor the network. These Witnesses gain this position by being voted in. Because all votes have equal weight this can be seen as a decentralization of the voting process, i.e. it isn’t limited to masternode holders like in Proof of Stake consensus.
Because there is a smaller group of individuals working to secure the network, needed changes can occur much more efficiently. Also, because Witnesses are reliant of votes, it is in their best interest to pay attention to the concerns of the other participants on the network.
Granted this is a pretty watered down explanation of DPoS, I’ll include links down below for those of you who want to learn the nitty gritty info about this form of consensus.
As for serving the masses and being able to scale, it’s interesting to see how the developers of the Bitshares blockchain have figured out a way to make the processing done by nodes a much more efficient activity.
It’s called graphene, not the ultra light, super durable material, a graphene blockchain is one that is able to process transactions very quickly and efficiently.
Bitshares is not the only blockchain that’s designed in this way, Dan Larimer brought it to the Steem blockchain and to EOS as well.
Once again I know this doesn’t give you the details of exactly how Graphene is more efficient, but if I’ve piqued your interest be sure to check out the link down below to a video that I found to be very informative on the subject.
Additional Reading/Sources:
What is Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)
Steemit Article of DPoS
Great Video Explaining Graphene Blockchains
I think you are wrong in saying that all votes have equal weight in dpos, i think the stake counts for strength of vote.
your votes for all your fav delegates is weighted by your vested amount.
votes are calculated via approval voting which is one of the most representative forms of voting. It makes it easy for others to vote people out even if they have large stake. this allows dpos to be more merit based & doesn't require wealth to produce.
BUT the vote of each block producer is equal no matter how much vests is behind them, so all 21 in each round are weighted equally, need more than 2/3 to agree to fork or finalize a block.
This helps break the highly concentrated wealth distributions might have in addition to performance review by community that can fire them.
see the difference?
Hey, thanks, interesting, so approval is needed before one can become a witness, who does the approving part?
Yeah, otherwise it would be impossible to do without proof of identity. People could just use bots to create 1000's of accounts and take a major vote-stake ^^
100% right @droucil, the stake strength is off course also not safe and especially a 'power to the rich' thing. If e.g. here on Steem, the Steemit account - who has 35% of shares - makes 20 witness votes, that will be the top 20 witnesses i guess.
You could argue that share holders are not interested in destroying their own wealth but a witness majority could theoretically e.g. change the rules to give even more power to themselves.
Decentralisation ain't easy :-)
@Dan not too long ago made an article about the need for identity in order for good governance, link. I think he makes a valid point as it would make the possibility for a true democratic model. One could argue that anonymity is more important, but I do believe this full transparency might cause for a real game changer.
Yes, i have read that article, it was nice to see that @Dan still cares about his older children. He is right but i would miss to have a 2nd anonymous account, curious if something like that will happen.
Oops, i just noticed i was not following you yet after all these nice chats :-) I see you everywhere around lately, looking into the 'Arise is a scam' thing.
Correct. Each share (single BTS for example) holds equal weight. I think that is what she was trying to say.
Simply amazing the things we can do with blockchains and honestly it is all just getting started. No one really got super interested in it till about 2016 just a little over a year ago now and like you said look at how far we have come already.
@heiditravels, really like the discussions about fundamentals. Do you have anything to say about LBRY?
Here's a technical analysis I did on it:
Library Credits (LBRY) - Analysis https://steemit.com/steem/@benkalashnikov/library-credits-lbry-analysis
I think blockchain will eventually grow to replace the Internet as a way to store, transfer, and track information. We’re just getting started! Welcome to the ground floor folks :)
Still looking forward for lighting come so fee can go down + faster transaction
Bitcoin next leg
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@salahuddin2004/bitcoin-will-retest-20-k-before-30-march-2018
We have come so far in terms of the general public accepting and supporting the new technology, certainly. In terms of the technology being deployed and changes industries we have not even scratched the surface and this of course is a great thing.
2016 is the beginning of crypto awareness. Blockchain and cryptocurrency are really amazing and very useful in many ways. Just imagine you can launch a project anywhere with less effort compared to fiat. Collecting fiat currency from different investors in different countries is very hard but through bitcoin and altcoins things become easy, faster and efficient.
Shame on me that I didn't learn about the blockchain and cryptocurrencies earlier because I'm a very IT related person (as a programmer and and a pc-fanatic as long as I know me). But the last weeks I got the attention by chance (someone would like to buy something with bitcoin and I helped him). So I got into this and up to now learned hundreds of hours daily about this new technology.
ur totally wrong ,and having wrong assumption on the block chain so change it fast assoon as possible
Explain @schii
nice
https://steemit.com/bitshares/@naya001/the-future-of-blockchain-and-cryptocurrencies
Before Downvoting This Post Read This On Steemit -
http://bit.ly/2DMU1bh ! #ripsid hashtag ! If u are not going to donate then atleast this article
Thank you for good information
I like the DPoS system but I fear that it may make it easier to hamper networks that use it. Is it easier to target hundreds of mines or thousands of users or 20 or so witnesses. If we're living in a future where state players see crypto as a threat, then the more underground a network is the more likely it is to gain use when legislation, regulatory and other... more direct methods of dealing with threats to the system are harnessed.
As states move against crypto or seek to co-opt their movements then it could be as simple as using their current toolkits to either move their own witnesses into positions of power or threaten existing witnesses. As it becomes more dangerous to be a witness people will question if those remaining are really acting in the networks' best interests.
I'm of the opinion that there remains the very real possibility that the carrots and sticks used to cripple crypto will be hard to deal with, but there may be many who continue to see the utility in distributed networks that are privacy-oriented even in such an environment. In fact users of steemit may avoid a lot of the more detrimental attacks and notions of this crypto as a tool of bandits, thieves and smugglers may get dismissed, as the faucet encourages the identification of the users.
And just so I'm understanding this right, graphene boils down to using filters to cut down on the size of the block a node has to download, and isn't btc segwit compatible? If it turns out to that this and other such technologies operate in the wild without a hitch then it's all the more evidence that bitcoin is pretty much dead in the water as far as mass adoption goes as it's ultimately replaced in use even as a "store of value". Good as gold my ass if the tech isn't up to par.
There can be thousands of witnesses too.
I feel like that may be required of networks in the future.
Before Downvoting This Post Read This On Steemit -
http://bit.ly/2DMU1bh ! #ripsid hashtag ! If u are not going to donate then atleast this article
Bitcoin will continue to rise for now because the Dollar is dying, but Steem and others can rise over Bitcoin in the next few years maybe. We are in big global transitions and Bitcoin is still pretty new for some people. So, we may not be there yet for too many people to make it pass Bitcoin to better alternatives. It takes maybe more time for that to happen.
Blockchain in my heart<3
Wow, great explanations. Commenting so I can find this tomorrow and watch those videos at the end. Thanks!
A beautiful guide for blockchain generations.
blockchain can really make the life easy especially for those who are unbanked
Indeed. Blockchain makes a whole lot of difference.
bueno y entretenido, es la pura verdad.
Pura vida
So for every new technology that can fundamentally change society, there is always a fear factor associated with it and many times a bubble like we see in crypto bubble is essential for its wider adoption. 2 years ago crypto was not mainstream and not sure how many projects were being implemented in 2018, there are many real projects and application being developed and deployed. The whole block chain technology is very early stage.lot of innovation yet to happen.I think during this process, there will be a bubble, crash and recovery and more new things!!!
Thanks for all of the hard work that you put into these videos. I have learned about a few new great projects because of your videos. Keep it up! Safe Travels!
Its amazing how fast everything is evolving. I feel like we have ways to go before we reach the full potential of the blockchain technology.
Thank you for the informative article! It let me understand more about the blockchain technology
you have shared such an amazing information regarding 1st, 2nd & 3rd Generation of Blockchain. Thanks a lot @heiditravels.
Before Downvoting This Post Read This On Steemit -
http://bit.ly/2DMU1bh ! #ripsid hashtag ! If u are not going to donate then atleast this article
After reading your post. I didn't understand what the graphene really meant.
I went ahead to do a little research on graphene which i will love to share.
Graphene is an industrial strength software platform for deploying third generation cryptographically secure decentralized ledgers known as block chains.
Graphene based systems have orders of magnitude better performance than first-generation Bitcoin-derived systems or even the second generation “Bitcoin 2.0” systems that constitute our current closest competitors.
Graphene based systems go beyond mere “checkbook” style payments to offer a broad range of financial services distinguished by their transparency and inherent incorruptibility.
-You can see Graphene as a toolkit for real-time blockchains.
@heiditravels, nice post. I learnt alot about the different generations.
amazing and hope for the best for Graphene
Finally i know what a steem witness is good for. Thx. Upvote.
Thanks for sharing, this was very informative.
BitShares and Graphene are the future! 100 thousand transactions per second! Why even bitcoin?
I hope we survive the crypto bubble blast & probably the blast below never happens and peace & prosperity reign, EOS is my pick for the next big coin, even buying 10 now will be enough for a great vacation with your grand kids!
The crypto bubble will never pop. There are many speculations out there and many who pump and dump the price, but I think the base of people give a fuck what USD value their cryptos have. And these people will stay in crypto as long as they live. This gives an new interesting question: What happenes in about 80 years or so, more and more people die and more and more wallets are closed forever. This will be a nice deflation as years goes by. Bad this idea got in my mind, I know :-)
The keys to their wallets will be in their testaments most propably
Hm... yes. For sure. But nevertheless more and more wallets will be lost over time.
This is how crypto videos should be!
Thank you for this detailed information about Balkchin
I always hear about Balkshin and I do not know Mahe
I will upload the videos of this thread to get more depth
I found you on youtube in October. You were the first one that got me interested n cryptocurrency and surprisingly Steemit. Thanks for sharing so much information. It adds up.
How great is this?! So glad I could help :)
I am fairly new to Digital currencies and understanding the dynamics behind the Blockchain system- but I am learning and very keen to get as much knowledge as possible- I hope to someday earn a living off of my investments and hope to eventually become a property owner all over the world as a result :) Thank you for adding to my body of knowledge and helping me along!
I'm also new to digital currencies but had a larger IT knowledge and learned the last weeks, every day, hundreds of hours. A shame this technology was there for so long but no one get interested in. I hope in the future will money have not that value in our heads as it has nowadays. The complete industry could transform for the better now. What's going on is soo huge, but at the moment, most people don't realize it when you talk to them. As some said earlier: This is bigger than the rise of the internet because this will disrupt this old shitty fiat money system. Every day, this will get bigger and no one could really stop it.
I had same experience Heidi. Found your videos over the holidays. I think you do a great job and make it understandable for many of us. Am here on Steemit now because of your video and so far so good. Would love to see a video(s) about your opinions and also maybe some personal experiences with investing. Thanks again for sharing your crypto knowledge!
There is one thing that I DON'T like about Steem, which you say is a Third Generation block chain. Yes. It might be very efficient. But I don't like that Steem coins are planned to DOUBLE every year.
That is TOO MUCH inflation built in, the price of Steem can never rise too much because TOO MANY NEW STEEM are being produced, and whoever is getting them (I suppose, "witnesses" which are known as "miners" in first generation Block chain, eg, Bitcoin) will sell them.
Thanks for the beautiful explanation. I learn from you.
The price is not "planned to double every year", nor is inflation set to 100 %. Read the white paper again. It might have been 100 % in the beginning but haven't been for a long time now.
Thanks for information!
Good post @heiditravals
Thinking about traveling the baltic sea?
Nice.....cooling me down so from the market pressure
nice blog
i love blockchain because we do not have to wait for the third party approval to send whatever we want.
https://elnomadadigital.blogspot.com/2017/12/que-hay-detras-de-los-bitcoins.html
Strictly essential 'Blockchain for dummmies'... like me....
This is well explained.. thanks for sharing this
Awesome post, but imo there are far too much cryptos which are hyped, in the long run only few of them will be able to suceed; but the whole blockchain space hast the potential for a true paradigm change, maybe similiar to the introduction of the internet (www).
Looking forward to post such quality articles in the near future myself! ;)
Very informative and educative.thanks
This is well explained.. thanks for sharing this
2018 will be the year of bitcoin
Big companies accumulating big in this dip/correction.
Watchout Bitcoin going 5 figures in coming years.
Nicely explained @heiditravels. @originalworks.
Thanks for posting this. Some of the doubts were cleared. Keep poating such article its really helpful for newbies.
This is an interesting way of looking at each wave of evolution in blockchain. It reminds me very much of the evolution of programming languages and how they're generally categorized by generations.
I will check out graphene. It's a new protocol to me. I had seen tangle and hash graph, but not graphene.
Thank you for this overview. I´m not the youngest guy anymore and I don´t always get what it is all about here, but your post was helpful. Enjoy your life! Rolf
I love your youtube channel thanks for all you do.
Nice article...Stunned by your work...keep going...Be a example of all the steemians ..
Here's $20 for supporting Steemit.
Just click the link to Join Monetize Coin
https://monetizecoin.com/?ref=5a566f9c2e4cd
good
informative post
An interesting comment, but it is more profitable to start a new day every day ;)
Congratulations @heiditravels!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
I was wondering for quite some time what is the meaning of witnesses. Your explanation is so easy to understand even for us, the beginners. And I like the idea that all votes for witnesses count the same, that's amazing and builds trust. Thanks a lot!
This is really the evolution of the economy and money. Excellent post @heiditravels
Bitcoin will bring a lot of things for the next generation, which does not really need to be said. You have highlighted the different aspects of this bitcoin. The next generation will be able to see a coin that is currently down, but I hope this bitcane will be bigger and in the future with your talk I totally agree
Great job taking this down to my level that's really good