Blockchain is the second big invention
1. Blockchain links
as the name suggests, blockchain is a chain composed of blocks. Each block is divided into block head and block body (including transaction data). The block head includes the prevhash value (also known as hash value) of the previous block used to realize the block link and the random number (nonce) used to calculate the mining difficulty. The hash value of the previous block is actually the hash value of the head of the previous block, and the random number calculation rule determines which miner can obtain the right to record the block
2. Consensus mechanism
blockchain is accompanied by the birth of bitcoin, which is the basic technology architecture of bitcoin. Blockchain can be understood as an Internet-based decentralized accounting system. A decentralized digital currency system like bitcoin requires the consistency of accounting of honest nodes without a central node, which needs blockchain to complete. Therefore, the core of blockchain technology is a consensus mechanism to reach a consensus on the legitimacy of transactions between indivials without mutual trust without central control
there are four main types of consensus mechanisms in blockchain: pow, POS, dpos and distributed consistency algorithm
3. Unlocking script
script is an important technology to realize automatic verification and contract execution on blockchain. Every output of every transaction does not point to an address in the strict sense, but to a script. A script is like a set of rules that constrain how the receiver can spend the asset locked on the output
the validation of transactions also depends on scripts. At present, it depends on two kinds of scripts: Lock script and unlock script. Locking script is a condition added to the output transaction, which is realized by a script language and located in the output of the transaction. The unlocking script corresponds to the locking script. Only when the conditions required by the locking script are met can the assets corresponding to the script be spent, which is located in the input of the transaction. Many flexible conditions can be expressed by script language. Interpretation script is similar to the "virtual machine" in our programming field, which runs in every node of the blockchain network in a distributed way
4. Transaction rules
blockchain transaction is not only the basic unit of a block, but also the actual effective content recorded by the blockchain. A blockchain transaction can be a transfer, or the deployment of smart contracts and other transactions
as far as bitcoin is concerned, a transaction refers to a single payment transfer. The transaction rules are as follows:
1) the input and output of the transaction cannot be empty
2) for each input of a transaction, if its corresponding utxo output can be found in the current transaction pool, the transaction will be rejected. Because the current transaction pool is the transaction not recorded in the blockchain, and each input of the transaction should come from the confirmed utxo. If it is found in the current trading pool, it is Shuanghua trading
3) for each input in a transaction, the corresponding output must be utxo
4) each input unlocking script must verify the compliance of the transaction together with the corresponding output locking script
5. Transaction priority
the priority of blockchain transaction is determined by the blockchain protocol rules. For bitcoin, the priority of a transaction to be included in a block is determined by the time when the transaction is broadcast to the network and the amount of the transaction. With the increase of transaction broadcast time on the network and the increase of transaction chain age, the priority of transaction will be improved and eventually be included by the block. For Ethereum, the priority of the transaction is also related to the transaction fee that the publisher is willing to pay. The higher the transaction fee that the publisher is willing to pay, the higher the priority that the transaction is included in the block
6. Merkle proof
the original application of Merkle proof is bitcoin, which was described and created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Bitcoin blockchain uses Merkle proof to store transactions in each block. So that the transaction can not be tampered with, but also easy to verify whether the transaction is included in a specific block
7. RLP
RLP (recursive length prefix) is one of the main encoding methods of object serialization in Ethereum. Its purpose is to encode the sequence of arbitrary nested binary data.
IPR daily, an intellectual property media, recently released a report, which listed the number of blockchain invention patents published in the world from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019, among which China ranked first, accounting for 67% of patent applications. Alibaba ranked first with 322 patents, followed by Ping An of China, with 274 patents, Third, nchain has 241 patents.
Since 2017, the concept of blockchain, which has been popular all over the society and the world, is still heating up, attracting people and social funds; Boost bitcoin, as well as similar network "encrypted digital currency" (such as ether coin, Wright coin, etc.) price rise, created a lot of "overnight rich" myth. The argument that digital currency and blockchain will subvert tradition and profoundly change the world is constantly rising. The start-up and development of blockchain seems to be coming like a roaring sea, but it is more and more concentrated in coin making and speculation, and more and more trapped in the thinking and paradigm of "bitcoin blockchain" of mining and coin making
in the case that bitcoin must be exchanged with fiat money and must join the network trading platform and other auxiliary links in order to play a greater function, the characteristics of bitcoin blockchain such as area center and disintermediation may have serious problems. In the real world, if the transfer of monetary assets is operated through the bitcoin blockchain system, it will actually increase the intermediary link rather than disintermediation. Moreover, because the bitcoin system is highly anonymous and deliberately evades supervision, it is difficult to fully meet the requirements of anti money laundering and anti-terrorism transportation. On the contrary, many new serious problems may arise, Many arguments about bitcoin and blockchain are difficult to hold
those unseen pain points
the so-called labels of bitcoin blockchain, such as "decentralization", "democracy, equality and freedom", can not stand scrutiny; The truth is that if it puts too much emphasis on "decentralization", it will affect efficiency; Bitcoin has not yet become a real currency; The ICO type fund-raising method is not concive to the development of blockchain... But when people enthusiastically pursue blockchain like faith, they can not see these "pain points":
first, bitcoin blockchain is difficult to build a decentralized, democratic and equal society
bitcoin blockchain system envisages the establishment of an equal and democratic world for all participants, but in fact, the core team of coding maintenance and the main forces involved in mining and operation are not so equal and democratic. Due to the influence of computer computing power, the mining and acquisition of bitcoin are not equal as advertised. As a result of competition, the opportunities of mining and acquiring bitcoin are more and more concentrated on a small number of mining pools or nodes with powerful computing power. However, more and more people are involved in mining, consuming resources, but they may not be able to obtain bitcoin. This makes bitcoin more occupied by a few people, and will enhance its voice or influence on the adjustment of network rules
secondly, there are strict conditions for bitcoin blockchain to "de trust" and "de mediate" point-to-point transactions
Blockchain is a new technology, not a disguised form of MLM. It is just claimed by many MLM organizations as "blockchain". In fact, there is no technology. It's just a practice of MLM under the name of "blockchain". The state has issued several announcements to crack down on this kind of MLM. The following is the Xinhua news report on MLM of blockchain:
blockchain is not equal to virtual currency, but also has security risks. Behind the popularity, there is exaggeration with "ulterior motives". Only by removing the flashiness, can the blockchain return to its real application value
invest 80000 yuan, change to 800000 yuan after three months? Shenzhen police cracked a huge fund-raising fraud. Under the guise of blockchain concept and 10 times income, thousands of investors were deeply involved in the case, involving up to 307 million yuan. Under the "veil of mystery" of the blockchain, the illegal elements have taken advantage of their own tricks, and the blockchain has become a "signboard" of economic crimes such as fraud and pyramid selling
why is the blockchain repeatedly "misused" by illegal activities such as pyramid selling fraud? In addition to "unknown", what is the "function" of blockchain technology itself? Since the beginning of this year, with the increase of supervision and the cooling of currency speculation, new opportunities have been brought to the development of blockchain. How about the implementation of blockchain commercial "application" The reporter of outlook news weekly recently concted an investigation
when the three-month "capital release period" promised by the trading platform expired and the staff began to "kick" in the QQ group, Tang Haiyan, who lives in Bao'an District of Shenzhen City, realized that she might have been cheated
previously, Tang Haiyan invested 80000 yuan to buy a virtual currency called "ordinary silver coin" under the introction of her classmates“ The other side said that this currency is the most advanced blockchain technology at present, with Tibetan tea as collateral. He also showed me the "technical white paper". I didn't understand blockchain, so I didn't read it carefully. "
although she doesn't know about blockchain and virtual currency, the high investment income makes Tang Haiyan full of expectations. She told reporters that companies issuing "ordinary silver coins" will regularly split the virtual currency according to the ratio of 1:10, which means that each split will make the value of "ordinary silver coins" in the hands of investors expand 10 times. As long as after a split, her investment of 80000 yuan is equivalent to the purchase of 800000 yuan worth of "ordinary silver coins", which can be sold on the trading platform to obtain huge profits
according to the rules of the trading platform, the newly purchased "ordinary silver coin" cannot be traded immediately, and it must be frozen on the platform for three months before it can enter the "release period". However, after three months, not only did Tang Haiyan not wait for the assets to double, but the 80000 yuan frozen on the platform could not be used for trading
"other investors began to question the authenticity of this investment in QQ group. As a result, the staff of the company kicked these investors out one by one, which made me feel bad." She said
The fact also proves Tang HaiYan's intuition. At the end of March 2018, Shenzhen police detected a huge fund-raising fraud, with the amount of fraud funds as high as 307 million yuan. In this case, Shenzhen Puyin blockchain Group Co., Ltd. involved in the case issued virtual currency in the mode of "blockchain + Tibetan tea" to obtain public deposits. Tang Haiyan was one of the thousands of victimsShenzhen police investigation found that the company claimed that investors could buy and sell "ordinary silver coins" on the virtual trading platform "jucoin net" to earn a price difference
. In fact, the change of its trading price is that the company used investors' investment funds for behind the scenes operation, and once raised the price of "ordinary silver coin" from 0.5 yuan to 10 yuan, so that investors can taste some sweetness. When a large number of investors entered the market, the company continued to cash out through malicious manipulation of the price trend of "ordinary silver coin", which eventually led to the worthlessness of "ordinary silver coin" in the hands of investors
since 2018, engaging in fraud and pyramid selling under the banner of blockchain has become a common "routine" in new criminal tactics. In April 2018, Jinan police dropped a pyramid selling Gang under the guise of "western development", "national poverty alleviation", "original stocks", "blockchain" and "e-commerce", arrested more than 10 major suspects, frozen more than 100 accounts involved, and seized more than 300 million yuan of funds involved
according to Jinan police, huileyi e-commerce company designed a fake virtual disk on the Internet on the ground that the country is vigorously developing the big data instry, and released a variety of virtual currencies such as "precious currency" and "precious currency"
under the guise of giving away, they presented a certain amount of virtual currency to the New MLM staff, with the price of tens of yuan each. Then, through artificial manipulation, they appreciated the virtual currency all the way to more than 100 yuan or even hundreds of yuan, attracting people who did not know the truth to join. Finally, they "cut leeks" through the periodic fluctuation of the so-called "devaluation" of virtual currency, Finally, the purpose of seeking illegal interests is achieved
in Xi'an, a few days ago, the local police successfully cracked a huge network pyramid selling case under the banner of blockchain. According to the police, the suspect, Zheng Mou, has paid a high salary to the 9 network members, such as Zhang and Lee. Since March 28, 2018, he has gathered pyramid selling and network pyramid selling as a means to sell the virtual Datang coins at the consumption era network platform at the price of 3 yuan each, and manipulate the appreciation rate; p>
at the same time, promotion meetings were held in many cities at home and abroad to attract members. According to the development of members, 28 level agents were set up. In just 18 days, the gang developed more than 13000 registered members. At present, it has been found that the case involves 31 provinces, cities and autonomous regions in China, and the fund involved is as high as 86 million yuan
according to Tencent's 2017 pyramid selling situation awareness white paper released by Tencent security joint laboratory, in recent years, all kinds of overseas capital disk, virtual currency and ICO (initial public offering token financing of blockchain project) projects have emerged in an endless stream, which hide many risks such as illegal issuance, untrue projects, cross-border money laundering, fraud and pyramid selling, As a result, a large number of funds flow overseas. Once the market collapses, runs away or loses contact, investors often have no way to complain and the losses are difficult to recover. For example, Baichuan coin, mark coin, beta coin, dark coin, etc
the reporter of lookout Newsweek interviewed in Guangdong, Shandong, Shanghai and other places and learned that most people know that the concept of blockchain is very popular, but they "don't know where it is", and there are different opinions on the specific functions of blockchain: some people think it is used for "investment and financing", "buying and selling currency", while others think it is "a major invention of the same magnitude as the steam engine", Some entrepreneurs are even more eager to seize this "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rich."
many people in the instry said that it is precisely because people have many misunderstandings about blockchain that criminals have opportunities to fish in troubled waters and mislead investors
First, blockchain is not equal to virtual currency. By the end of last year, the number of domestic ICO participants and the total volume of transactions have doubled, a large number of digital currency exchanges have fled overseas, and the agent investment mode has involved more ordinary people in high-risk investmentin many instries, we media and celebrities form interest alliances with issuers and digital exchanges to endorse and create public opinion for the "air currency" project. In December last year, nine departments including the people's Bank of China identified ICO as "suspected of illegal fund-raising, financial fraud, pyramid selling and other illegal and criminal activities"
in the interview, many people told our reporter that the existence of token has built a set of rights and interests mechanism for the development of blockchain technology, which is indispensable for stimulating the prosperity of blockchain applications“ The market practice in the past five years has proved that blockchain applications without equity mechanism are just like market economy without computers connected to the Internet and money, with greatly reced application scenarios and development speed. " An investor in Shanghai said
in fact, the token represented by bitcoin is only one of the earliest procts to verify the blockchain technology, and the two can not be equated, and the existence of token has obviously negative effects on the development of blockchain
Xiao Wei, chief engineer of network blockchain, told this reporter that the myth of ICO's sudden wealth shakes the R & D concentration of blockchain technical talents, and the myth of "sudden wealth" with hundreds of times of return tests the patience of blockchain technical R & D talents“ Many of the "comrades in arms" in the circle who used to do research and development of blockchain technology have gone to issue coins, and now few of them can insist on doing research and development and application of technology. "
Xu zewei, Secretary of the Party committee of Beijing Internet Finance Instry Association, said that under the background of China's ban on ICO, many domestic start-ups promoting blockchain applications are "selling dog meat with sheep's pawn" and financing through concept packaging of worthless tokens“ ICO has polluted the good atmosphere of innovation and entrepreneurship, and created a kind of speculative proct. Many young people are not thinking about entrepreneurship, but are thinking about issuing money, which makes us have the illusion of getting rich overnight. "
at present, more and more people in the instry begin to think about whether the development of blockchain must rely on the issuance of tokens to achieve incentives. Guo Dagang, Secretary General of Beijing Internet Finance Instry Association, told this reporter that the so-called incentive mechanism is only the theoretical basis for the project party to issue tokens for itself. Huo Xuewen, director of Beijing Municipal Bureau of financial work, also believes that if blockchain does not get rid of the dilemma of issuing currency, it will never find a legal landing mechanism
secondly, blockchain is not omnipotent and its security is at risk. Blockchain is generally considered to achieve three functions:
first, the data stored on the blockchain can not be tampered or forged, and the data has high credibility and credibility; Second, the whole process of the transaction can be traced, which can achieve accurate responsibility tracking; Third, the embedded smart contract in the blockchain can be executed automatically based on the contract, so as to improve work efficiency and rece the risk of default. It is generally believed that blockchain has broad application prospects in finance, logistics, trade and other fields
in fact, blockchain is not omnipotent, and its function has many limitations. It is generally believed that, according to the characteristics of cryptography, in order to tamper or falsify in the blockchain, more than 51% of the nodes need to be controlled in theory. When there are enough nodes in the blockchain, it is difficult to tamper with the trust creation mechanism widely participated by the public
However, in reality, digital currency exchanges are frequently attacked or even stolen. On June 20, 2018, bithumb exchange of South Korea announced on its official website that the exchange had been attacked by hackers and stolen 35 billion won, about 32 million US dollars of cryptocurrency Ji Xinhua, known as the first generation of "hackers" in China, said that the blockchain will continue to face attacks, and the process of uploading data to the blockchain is prone to information leakage. Some people in the instry worry that once the super computing power of quantum computing is realized, it will also have a direct impact on the blockchainZhao Yao, a special researcher of the Institute of finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told this reporter that the academic community has confirmed as early as 2013 that the blockchain is not perfect and there are many "cheating" strategies. As long as there are enough economic incentives, controlling attacks of more than 51% nodes does not only exist in theory
Zeng Guang, Secretary General of Shenzhen Internet Finance Association, said that the blockchain technology itself does not have the ability to do so