"Decentralization" has become a hot topic along with blockchain technology. However, is the blockchain necessarily "decentralized", is this the absolute direction pursued by entrepreneurs?
There is a lot of misunderstanding about the word "decentralization". In the blockchain, there are many possibilities between "centralization" and "decentralization". The degree and mechanism of centralization is network. The structural characteristics determine how the collaborative network will operate and evolve. Different decisions bring unused value and there is no standard answer.
The core point of this paper: "decentralization" is an endogenous variable, not an absolute direction.
I always wanted to write decentralization, because this word is a very important basic concept in the discussion of blockchain, but there are too many ambiguities and misunderstandings. There are only a few things that can't be started, because the level of related problems is very rich, and the discussion is easy to be emotional. Just as the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin wrote a long article and talked in detail about his views on this issue. On the basis of his thinking, I further clarified my own thoughts, that is, we should not blindly pursue decentralization. In fact, decentralization has advantages and defects. For any project, the degree and method of decentralization should be a system endogenous variable, which is the key to mechanism design and the focus of blockchain ecological evolution.
Let's first take a look at the idea of ​​Vitalik Buterin. Vitalik Buterin divides decentralization into three dimensions: the architectural level, the political/decision level, and the logical level. He believes that the blockchain is decentralized at the level of architecture and decision-making, but is centralized at the logical level. The architectural level is decentralized or, more accurately, distributed. The centralization of the logical level refers to the global ledger, which is the unified database, unified accounting. These two judgments should be no controversy. But at the decision-making level, I don't think that the blockchain is necessarily decentralized, but there are many possibilities between decentralization and centralization. It depends on what the rules of decision making are. This point will be expanded later.
Vitalik Buterin further analyzed the three reasons that are often mentioned to support decentralization: fault tolerance, attack resistance, and collusion resistance. More importantly, he pointed out the circumstances under which these three reasons may not be established, and the corresponding conclusions and countermeasures. This part of the discussion fully expresses the many judgments of Vitalik Buterin, and can also infer his next behavior, which is worth chewing. The first two partial techniques, the latter one is more difficult to design countermeasures. In fact, Vitalik Buterin even gave up the definition of a priori to collusion.
This is already a relatively systematic and calm analysis of decentralization that I have seen. For decentralization, my attitude is clearer than Vitalik Buterin. Although distributed is the starting point of blockchain technology at the system architecture level, from the perspective of blockchain application, I strongly recommend that you do not regard “decentralization†as the natural advantage of blockchain projects, let alone treat it as a natural advantage. The ideal of pursuing has even become a kind of value. Decentralization is just an institutional arrangement, an endogenous variable that needs to be systematically considered.
The earliest tribal economy was peer-to-peer and completely decentralized. But why is it behind? It is because the network is too sparse and there is no synergy. The core of the agricultural economy is the point, which is based on tribes and villages, and is relatively self-sufficient. However, the expansion of the exchange network is an important factor in promoting economic development. The core of the industrial economy is the line, which is a relatively closed system of assembly lines, supply chain and bureaucratic company management. The industrial economy has a closer cooperation in the local (inside the line). The Internet opens up an era of relatively open network collaboration. The synergy from the PC Internet to the mobile Internet has been greatly developed. In the future, the combination of the Internet of Things and the blockchain will greatly expand the boundaries of network collaboration and be more directly built on the peer-to-peer network structure.
What is the nature of the blockchain? From the perspective of business innovation and development, I believe that the most essential feature of the blockchain is the establishment of a consensus-based, point-to-point, protocol/cooperative network. The core challenge of the next big development of the blockchain is precisely the context in which such collaborative networks can create maximum value. The core strategic issue remains a blockchain project. Why is the customer providing important value? In other words, what is the problem solved by this collaborative network? Why is it much better than the previous solution? What is the growth motivation of this network, and what are the structural characteristics? These are the most basic issues. As for the design of the Token mechanism, the advantage of overlapping the roles of producers, consumers and owners is effectively utilized, and the purpose is to provide better customer value and make the whole ecology more competitive.
I don't think we can overemphasize decentralization. Whether it is peer-to-peer or centralization, it is necessary to solve the problem of how large-scale collaboration is achieved. Need to think about their respective advantages and disadvantages in the specific scene system, these two mechanisms may even have good complementarity and need to be combined. For example, many people have discussed the use of blockchain peer-to-peer networks to provide the advantage of taxi services, but who is responsible for some of the public services originally provided by the platform? For example, who is going to prevent, discover, and punish for the vicious behavior of the driver? These key issues are not resolved, and peer-to-peer networks are difficult to accept quickly. In the early days of Alipay's development, it was clearly stated that "you dare to pay, I dare to accompany", such credibility has a great significance for the rapid promotion of a public network. Blockchain projects must have their own mechanism design and institutional evolution. To better solve these problems, they have greater value and are widely accepted.
Look at another example. There are trading disputes when there are transactions. The ability to effectively deal with trading disputes is an important basis for the prosperity of a trading network. To a large extent, Taobao is centrally managed by Taobao to deal with trading disputes between buyers and sellers. But we found that this cost is very large, and many times customers are not satisfied. Since 2012, Taobao has introduced a decentralized approach, and the community-approved jury arbitration dispute has achieved good results. But this mechanism has also undergone a few years of incubation.
A decentralized blockchain community, how to deal with transactional disputes, even fraud and other malicious acts? How to make a decision? Who can influence what problem? If you ask these questions in detail, you will find that there is no absolute decentralization. There must be elements of centralized decision-making. For example, how do the consensuses form and how can they be modified? The influence of the foundation in the community, as well as the decision-making mechanism of the foundation itself. In some blockchain projects, the founding team has the right to directly modify the so-called consensus mechanism. This is not a centralized decision!
The blockchain provides the technical foundation for building a more powerful P2P collaboration network. But it is important to remember that P2P is the means, and the efficiency of the collaborative network is the goal, and the ultimate value of the entire network is the key. The degree and mechanism of (going) centralization is the structural characteristics of the network, which determines how the collaborative network will operate and evolve. Different decisions bring unused value and there is no standard answer. The most important thing to think about in blockchain startups is the variety of decisions and designs that can create economic value, rather than the slogan of decentralization.
Shenzhen Sunwind Energy Tech Co.,Ltd , https://www.sunwindbatterylm.com