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That is an opinion editorial by Moustafa Amin, a know-how chief with greater than 20 years {of professional} expertise throughout giant organizations, service suppliers and telecom firms.
“Bitcoin Not Blockchain”
In case you’re a frequent reader of Bitcoin Journal or in case you’re a Bitcoin fanatic normally, you might need seen this motto. I got here throughout it quite a few occasions and I agree with it 100%.
Typically there may very well be a minor exception, as an illustration when the scope is constrained, the context is non-public and there’s no want for tokenization however usually, it’s all the time clever to stay to bitcoin.
Let’s analyze an imaginary case research round IP addresses utilizing a “site visitors gentle” analogy — yellow, purple and inexperienced.
IP Addresses
I assume that the readers are or not less than acquainted with how knowledge communications happen throughout the web based mostly on the IP protocol (TCP/IP if we need to be technically correct). The extra technological readers could 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 handle allocation and project. There are 5 completely different regional web registries (RIR) with jurisdiction underneath the IANA.
As a matter of truth, as a person or a standard web person you can’t request IP addresses straight from IANA or one of many 5 RIRs, however solely from web service suppliers, such because the providers 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 at some point IANA decides to launch a blockchain model of its IP addresses database, wouldn’t that be a reputable undertaking? The reply depends upon their strategy and their intention for doing so.
Earlier than we proceed, allow us to agree on a few factors:
- The time period blockchain doesn’t all the time confer with the underlying know-how of Bitcoin as invented (or found) by Satoshi Nakamoto. As an alternative, it has change into a advertising time period that’s extensively utilized by distributors as a buzzword to explain their merchandise in both non-public or public contexts.
- Even with a decentralized model of the IP addresses database, the IP addresses will all the time stay in IANA’s custody. These assets 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 might 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 on.
On this case, every regional RIR might be liable for some nodes that run this non-public 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 might be required on this answer, and the entire answer might be maintained by nodes falling underneath both the jurisdiction of IANA or the RIR. As a matter of truth, IANA can pause, cease, restart, truncate and even delete elements of this non-public blockchain at their will.
Principally, this case shouldn’t be completely 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 symbolize any danger to outsiders, i.e., there aren’t any buyers who put up cash for tokens.
The Purple 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 invaluable time discussing this situation any additional: This could make it no completely 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 really decentralized over the one actually decentralized blockchain — Bitcoin — and permitting cost in sats? A doable choice may very well be an software constructed on high 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 homeowners. This could 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, clients (suppliers or operators) will nonetheless be required to offer identification data for full possession of their IP addresses. Sadly, this may be in full compliance with know-your-customer legal guidelines (KYC) for on-line surveillance, as you would possibly guess.
Whatever the abundance of IP addresses, they’re restricted by nature, that means that IANA can’t mint or create new addresses out of skinny air.
Fast truth: 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 big quantity in order that the minimal IPv6 handle allocation is split by 32 to be equal to the variety of all IPv4 addresses on the market.
As all transactions might 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 handle block,” to not be confused with Bitcoin blocks.
The Ideally suited Path
What if we change the managed and surveilled IP addresses with new web addresses which are based mostly on Bitcoin? These addresses will inherit all Bitcoin’s options, i.e., they are going to be purely decentralized, safe, future-proof, strong, nameless, unhackable, managed by no single authority and plenty of extra.
Is it only a dream? For now. If this may very well be true we’d be altering the web as we all know it.
This can be a visitor submit by Moustafa Amin. Opinions expressed are solely their very own and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Journal.
