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The gist of the project
Mina is a blockchain of the future that uses the well-known PoS consensus mechanism, but stores all the information about the network's transaction history in an extremely compressed form. A unique feature of this blockchain is the smallest size of the entire blockchain, which is only 22 Kb. It is the smallest blockchain in the world. For comparison, Bitcoin blockchain already exceeds 350 GB, Ethereum blockchain - 827 GB. In addition, another feature of Mina is that no matter how much time passes and how many transactions there are in the network, the size of the blockchain will never increase and will always remain equal to 22Kb. We can safely say that the Mina Protocol is the lightest blockchain in the world. This innovation allows all nodes to sync as quickly as possible within the Mina network and to verify data almost instantly.
This blockchain uses a modified mechanism based on SNARK technology. It ensures the compression of the cryptographic proof to the minimum values, which allows to minimize the size of the blockchain itself. The principle is quite simple - a node in the Мin blockchain that generates a new block also generates a SNARK proof, or certificate, that captures the proof that the block is valid. This allows all nodes in the network to store only this small proof, rather than the entire chain of transactions. This approach allows the blockchain to scale infinitely without worrying about the size of the data.
The Zero-knowledge-proof technology at the heart of the Mina architecture negates the vast majority of problems with modern blockchains, such as high fees, slow networking, low privacy of personal data, and more.
Problems and solutions
Unfortunately, many traditional blockchains have a huge number of disadvantages in addition to their advantages. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the leaders in the ranking. Millions of people around the world already use these blockchains, but face a number of serious problems every day.
Bitcoin is considered a first-generation blockchain and, frankly, it is long outdated. Its use has shown that Bitcoin is unable to scale without sacrificing decentralization. The Mina Protocol solves this problem inherent in traditional blockchains. The immutability of blockchain size and other innovations make money entirely resistant to censorship.
Minimization makes it possible for every user to check the status of the network's registry without the risk of censorship. This makes Mina a medium of exchange that is completely and utterly resistant to censorship. In addition, Mina's blockchain is easy to integrate with traditional financial applications.
Ethereum, which can be considered a 2nd generation blockchain, has faced a huge number of questions from users. Many are concerned about the high fees on the network, as well as the low level of scalability. This is why the crypto world is waiting for Ethereum to move to Proof-of-Stake, which still does not make it a perfect blockchain. Ethereum has shown the community that smart contracts technology is the future and society needs DeFI applications.
However, at the moment, when integrating conventional applications with the Ethereum blockchain, there is a threat to user privacy because of the complete transparency of the blockchain (the so-called Ethereum Privacy Paradox), which is a very important and serious issue.
In fact, Mina Protocol easily solves these problems. The zk-SNARK technology allows for full privacy and scalability by having all computational processes take place outside the network and only then be checked for integrity within it.
Benefits of SnApps
All computation in traditional blockchains such as Ethereum takes place on the blockchain, which regularly leads to a huge number of problems. Over the past year, the network has seen regular network congestion, and transaction fees have become cosmic. Developers create more and more decentralized applications, but this does not solve the problem of user data privacy, and constantly provokes the growth of the costs of ongoing computing.
Mina Protocol offers a completely new approach and its own decentralized applications, called SnApps. They are based on SNARK technology and have two significant differences from the dApps everyone is used to.
SnApps do not limit scalability as they spend all their computations outside the main chain - similar to sidechain technology. This ensures that network bandwidth is not an issue. Also, this type of application is able to verify the integrity of all data without exposing it, and thus leaving it classified.
Importantly, Mina Protocol makes it easy to integrate the ability to pay in stabelcoins into applications. This process is very easy and does not require any specific and expensive software. This is possible because Mina uses the popular Java Script programming language to create SnApps, which means that any programmer and developer who knows the basics can easily create a decentralized application that integrates with a centralized one.
New features
It is worth noting that the technical innovations applied to Mina open up completely new and unique possibilities for today's society, which are worth enumerating:
- The latest Mina Protocol blockchain will allow intercontinental payments to be made without restriction, directly from a browser or smartphone.
- If a user needs to get credit, he will be able to prove that his salary, credit history and other factors are reliable. All this is possible without having to disclose sensitive information about payment history and real income to third parties.
- Thanks to this unique blockchain, it will be possible to create anonymous voting, where everyone will be able to verify the authenticity of the results without being able to see who voted for what.
- There will be no need to provide your personal data to dozens or even hundreds of companies (banks, mobile operators, government websites, etc.). It will be enough to send them once to an authentication provider, which does not require trust.
- Small and medium-sized businesses around the world will be able to create their own crypto products, which can be seamlessly integrated into existing traditional financial solutions. At the same time, the creation, implementation and operation process will not be controlled by third parties and will not require a lot of costs or special technical knowledge.
The developers of the project note in their roadmap that in the future Mina can be synchronized with Ethereum, and creators of dApps can easily convert their applications into SnApps. This means that decentralized exchanges and DeFi platforms, which have become so popular recently, will be able to migrate to Mina and operate at maximum throughput, while maintaining user privacy and not incurring high commission costs.
How snark technology works
It is worth elaborating on what zk-SNARK is and how it functions. This is very important because it is the innovation that helps Mina to have a consistent blockchain size of 22Kb. Of course, to get into all the intricacies and nuances of this technological solution, it is necessary to thoroughly study the special documentation and understand the complex mathematical and technical principles.
You can read more about the technology HERE.
Simply put, the Zero Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge technology that Mina developers used, based on zk-Snark, is used to check blocks for validity and reliability.
zk-Snark serves as a highly compressed cryptographic proof, which can be verified very quickly. All necessary confidentiality and security rules are observed, since formally there is absolutely no interaction between network nodes, except for the exchange of this very proof. This approach helps not only to ensure data protection, but also to increase overall scalability.
In fact, zk-SNARK acts as a document or certificate that cannot be altered or faked. Its job is to confirm that the calculation and validation of all transactions in the block are correct. However, it is not required to provide proof of the calculations themselves. In other words, SNARK technology allows you to confirm that all transactions in a block are correct, while eliminating the need to display them.
The genius of Mina's developers
It must be understood that the SNARKs generated during blockchain creation are not the final solution. Their growing number would in any case lead to a growing blockchain size, but certainly not as fast as in traditional situations. The creators of Mina offered an original solution - a concept where the SNARK itself can record more than just confirmation of computation and validity of network transactions.
The bright minds of the development team came up with the idea that essentially generating a new SNARK is also a calculation, which means it can be written and validated. They achieved the ability to create a SNARK consisting of several SNARKs.
It turns out that without any problems it is possible to generate one single SNARK, where the validation of all past SNARK certifications will be written. Moreover, it is also possible to create a so-called SuperSNARK, which will be the proof of the entire blockchain history, from the very first block to the last transaction in the network. The size of the blockchain remains unchanged.
By using such principles, blockchain nodes do not store its entire history, but only proof that all previous blocks have been validated. zk-SNARK makes all data on the network more secure and confidential, conforming to the concept of complete decentralization.
Conclusion
The developers of the project managed to use the well-known PoS protocol consensus technology and zk-SNARK technology to create the smallest and lightest blockchain in the world, which opens up completely new possibilities. If the project continues to develop in the right direction in terms of technology and marketing, it will be able to win the hearts and minds of a large number of cryptocurrency enthusiasts and ordinary users. It will probably compete with many recognized blockchains and will give an opportunity for a new round of development of this industry. In short, the project is definitely worthwhile.
Keep your nose in the wind and know that Fortune, Luck and Success always favor you when you're with us!
Always yours C.J.
