Amazing piece, really eye opening stuff about Solana.
I am not a technical person by nature, but from reading this, I was able to draw this potential red flag about Sol's security, please share comments, suggestions, or information that will prove otherwise:
My one concern is with regards to the Blockchain Trilemma and how this applies to Sol's solution. Sol basically uses a hybrid centralized-decentralized model where validators must trust the lead validator to enter transactions to the ledger. The lead validator being a "centralized party" as they are the one party able to enter the transactions to the ledger, giving them full control at that given time. Of course, the lead validators do not know when they will be the Lead validator because this is protected by a randomized algorithm.
BUT what if a validator is able to crack this code. This would give the lead validator the ability to falsify transactions, and worse, can give this validator the power to kill Sol by doing irreversible harm. This is not possible with fully decentralized models such as ETH or BTC.
In other words, putting trust in a centralized authority, albeit an authority who doesn't know they are in control at the time - this runs the risk of a potential major hack.
This is exactly why ETH or others prefer to keep decentralization and security as its core must have's will trying to tackle scalability and speed ONLY if both decentralization and security are in tact. ETH is going to use sharding which will improve speed and scalability while keeping security and decentralization in tact. Sol is potentially sacrificing network security at the benefit of amazing TPS and negligible fees.
The question remains: Can the algorithms such as lead validator be kept secure or will validators be able to crack this code and ruin Solana's blockchain forever?
This is the most clear-eyed overview of Solana I've read to date, excellent!
PSSTT... Packy, your SOL Chart graphic is wrong. "Degen ape" not BAYC. Excellent post though!!
good catch haha - fixed!
Amazing as always. Please keep it up!
Amazing piece, really eye opening stuff about Solana.
I am not a technical person by nature, but from reading this, I was able to draw this potential red flag about Sol's security, please share comments, suggestions, or information that will prove otherwise:
My one concern is with regards to the Blockchain Trilemma and how this applies to Sol's solution. Sol basically uses a hybrid centralized-decentralized model where validators must trust the lead validator to enter transactions to the ledger. The lead validator being a "centralized party" as they are the one party able to enter the transactions to the ledger, giving them full control at that given time. Of course, the lead validators do not know when they will be the Lead validator because this is protected by a randomized algorithm.
BUT what if a validator is able to crack this code. This would give the lead validator the ability to falsify transactions, and worse, can give this validator the power to kill Sol by doing irreversible harm. This is not possible with fully decentralized models such as ETH or BTC.
In other words, putting trust in a centralized authority, albeit an authority who doesn't know they are in control at the time - this runs the risk of a potential major hack.
This is exactly why ETH or others prefer to keep decentralization and security as its core must have's will trying to tackle scalability and speed ONLY if both decentralization and security are in tact. ETH is going to use sharding which will improve speed and scalability while keeping security and decentralization in tact. Sol is potentially sacrificing network security at the benefit of amazing TPS and negligible fees.
The question remains: Can the algorithms such as lead validator be kept secure or will validators be able to crack this code and ruin Solana's blockchain forever?
I just noticed you wrote this is a "sponsored deep dive"...so advertising then? Jesus Christ, the more I dig into crypto the more concerned I get.
the classiest ICO-ish pr stuffs i've seen in a while... at least you let us all know that this post was sponsored by the project.
... eww. not feeling this sub anymore.
thought it was quite balanced and well reasoned. don't think Packy would be too bothered about losing u as a sub
balanced lol. shilling hit piece
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This deep dive on Solana is insightful and timely appreciate the balanced perspective on its strengths and challenges.