Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

The End of Data Silos: Interoperability via Cry...

Neha
November 03, 2016

The End of Data Silos: Interoperability via Cryptocurrencies

We're stuck in a world of data silos: my photos are spread across dozens of apps and most services try to capture my data instead of working together. Bitcoin and the blockchain's novel form of consensus might inspire us to think about new ways of running databases in a more decentralized manner. With these systems, we're pushed to think about issues like interoperability, transparency, and open access when we start to design our applications, making it easier to work on data across trust domains.

From codemesh.io 2016 in London

Neha

November 03, 2016
Tweet

More Decks by Neha

Other Decks in Research

Transcript

  1. +

  2. Distributed consensus Problem of multiple computers agreeing on a value

    Used to build a log of operations with state machine replication Works as a distributed database
  3. Consensus: a very old problem 1982 Byzantine Generals Problem formulated

    1999 Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance paper published 2009 Bitcoin introduces Nakamoto Consensus 1990 Leslie Lamport writes about Paxos 2014 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Raft paper published 2006 Google publishes Chubby paper
  4. Common data formats Rules for what can go in the

    log records Agreement on valid operations and states
  5. Potential problems with digital token transfer 1.  Intercept transfer and

    steal funds 2.  Spend money without authorization 3.  Replay attack 4.  Double spend
  6. “I, Alice, would like to send Bob one coin” Alice!

    “I, Alice, would like to send Bob 1MHepPtrqAxZ” Alice! Alice Bob Eve 1.  Intercept transaction and steal funds 2.  Spend money without authorization 3.  Replay attack 4.  Double spend Eve Alice!
  7. “I, Alice, would like to send Bob 1MHepPtrqAxZ” Alice! “I,

    Alice, would like to send Carol 1MHepPtrqAxZ” Alice! Bob Carol 1.  Intercept transaction and steal funds 2.  Spend money without authorization 3.  Replay attack 4.  Double spend Alice! Uniqueness and ordering Alice
  8. Merkle tree H(HA HB ) H(B) H(C) H(D) H(A) H(HC

    HD ) H(HAB HCD ) A B C D merkle root
  9. Merkle tree H(HA HB ) H(B) H(C) H(D) H(A) H(HC

    HD ) H(HAB HCD ) A B C D C in MY merkle root? merkle root
  10. Blocks created by solving a computational puzzle merkle root hash

    of prev block timestamp nonce difficulty # txns txns
  11. $$$

  12. Rational behavior in Bitcoin Try to solve the puzzle for

    bitcoins Build on the longest valid chain The one the other rational ones are building on All valid transactions Why are bitcoins worth anything??
  13. log

  14. Downsides of Bitcoin Energy usage for proof of work Performance

    Concentration of mining power Difficulty of use Uncertainty of new currency
  15. What we can learn from Bitcoin Open-admissions, rationality-based protocols work

    at large scale! Simple transaction formats are useful Giving users the power to audit their own transactions is powerful More open systems with less trust → -  Choice -  Interoperability
  16. Savings and credit practices in the developing world Mobile money

    Real time gross financial settlement Credentialing Property titling and asset transfer Global rights management for music Medical records Decentralized publishing Many real world applications
  17. A vicious cycle: •  High fees •  Unproven creditworthiness • 

    Fraud, mistrust in documentation •  Unenforceable contracts •  Communities without access to basic infrastructure Our current financial system is not serving everyone