Hello, readers. A few days ago, the author came into contact with the concept of blockchain by chance. Out of curiosity, I learned a little about it. After learning, I was deeply shocked by the concept of blockchain, so I wrote this article, hoping to provide some help to newbies who want to understand blockchain.

　　Rant: It really takes a bit of effort to understand this thing, but it doesn’t matter. The author likes to chew on tough bones. Without further ado, let’s get started directly.

　　The concept of blockchain is no doubt familiar to many people. If you have no impression, the name ‘Bitcoin’ must be as famous as thunder in both the industry and the outside world. It is the first successful implementation of the blockchain technology concept.

　　At this point, everyone may still be confused, and there may be many doubts about what blockchain really is. Don’t be in a hurry. Next, the author will help you understand what blockchain is by comparing it with the modern network system.

　　2.1.1 Modern Network System

　　2.1.1.1 Modern Network Architecture

　　All of our modern applications share a common feature, which is centralization. But what is centralization?

　　When you want to transfer money to someone else, you necessarily need to go through third-party central servers such as Alipay, WeChat, and banks to help you with the transfer. No matter how it is done, you need a trustworthy intermediary to witness and execute this transaction; including all our other applications, any application under the network environment (such as League of Legends and other game applications) needs a third-party central server to link all players and manage all players’ data and other information.

　　2.2.1.2 Defects of Modern Network Architecture

　　After the above explanation, we will find that all personal data is stored in the hands of third-party institutions, so there is a great need to trust these third-party institutions. In addition, third-party institutions have absolute control over our data. If they want to tamper with our data, it is as easy as pie (such as the case where a certain company previously shut down a game server, resulting in serious infringement on players’ game assets); even if the third-party institution itself guarantees that it will not do so, if there are vulnerabilities in the third-party institution that are attacked by hackers, it will lead to the theft or destruction of our user data, which is a problem that cannot be completely solved under the centralized network architecture in any way.

　　2.1.2 Blockchain Network Architecture

　　2.1.2.1 Network Architecture under Blockchain

　　Under the architecture of blockchain, there is no longer a centralized server. Users interact directly with other users (which is often referred to as p2p peer-to-peer), that is, the famous decentralized architecture. Since users interact directly with each other, there is no third party involved, ensuring that no individual or organization can tamper with the user’s data. Although it is not foolproof at present, in some aspects, it truly realizes ‘freedom’.

　　2.2.1 Overview

　　To realize the technical concept of blockchain, there are four core technologies that have become the underlying support for the implementation of blockchain projects. They are encryption mechanism, smart contracts, distributed ledger (or distributed storage), and consensus mechanism.

　　2.2.2 Encryption Mechanism

　　The encryption mechanism ensures the privacy and non-tamperability of user data, while also serving the role of identity authentication.

　　2.2.3 Smart Contracts

　　Smart contracts ensure that all operations on the chain can run according to a specific set of rules, ensuring their orderliness.

　　2.2.4 Consensus Mechanism

　　The consensus mechanism ensures that who has the right to record the data on the chain (which is often referred to as the miner becoming the bookkeeper).

　　2.2.5 Distributed Storage

　　Since there is no centralized server, there is also no centralized database. Distributed storage determines the user data storage strategy.

　　2.2.3 Explanation

　　As these four technologies are the core of the blockchain concept, their content is extensive. The author here only briefly explains how each of them plays a role in blockchain. If the readers are interested, they can send a private message to the author, and the author can allocate a special time to explain these four core technologies (including their development history and the current mainstream technical details) in the future.

　　2.3.1 The problems that blockchain needs to solve

　　We have had a basic understanding of blockchain by now, knowing that it is a decentralized network structure. Then, the blockchain must solve several major problems:

　　1. Without a centralized database, where should users’ data be stored? (Distributed storage)

　　2. How to ensure that users’ identities are not impersonated without an intermediary institution? (Encryption mechanism)

　　3. How to ensure that users’ operations are in accordance with the rules? (Smart contracts)

　　4. How can one achieve the recognition of all users for the data recorded by it without a centralized server? (Consensus mechanism)

　　2.3.2 Instance Explanation

　　Scenario:

　　If we assume that the blockchain network is a village, then everyone in the village can be regarded as a node under this network. If Little A exchanges a chicken for a fish today, the ‘village head’ will write all transactions of the day, including this transaction record, on the notice board at the village head. After everyone in the village confirms that the record is correct, they will record it in their own ledger.

　　Manifestation of encryption mechanism:

　　Little A used his own chicken as a means of exchange, and the encryption mechanism ensured that Little A’s identity could not be impersonated during this process, that is, others could not impersonate Little A and use Little A’s property (similar to account password authentication under centralized structures), and the blockchain achieves this through asymmetric encryption technology.

　　Manifestation of smart contracts:

　　Little A’s chicken can be exchanged for a fish, which is defined through the rules of smart contracts, for example, if Little A wants to exchange a chicken for a cow, it is obviously not compliant, and smart contracts are used to ensure the legality of transactions.

　　Manifestation of consensus mechanism:

　　This transaction record was originally written by the village head on the notice board, so the identity of the village head is elected through a consensus mechanism. He has the right to record this transaction, of course, others will also verify whether there are any problems with this record, and if there are problems, the village head’s identity will be stripped and a new election will be held.

　　Manifestation of distributed storage:
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　　Everyone in the village will record this transaction information, which makes it impossible for anyone to alter the transaction information in their own ledger to take effect, as the vast majority of people in the village still record the original normal information.

　　When mentioning Bitcoin, many people will think of terms such as Online casino and How to find it, mining, speculation, high value, and rarity. However, the author wants to tell everyone that Bitcoin is essentially a落地 project of the blockchain network structure, and the Bitcoin we often mention is a type of lottery and How to find it issued in this network structure. Due to its limited total supply and pioneering significance, it currently almost plays the role of precious metals such as gold in the real world (friends with financial knowledge should have understood its value).

　　3.2.1 What is mining

　　Through the example of the village, we know that the daily transaction records are recorded by the “village chief”, so mining is a competition to become the village chief, and all participants in the competition are called miners. The person who finally becomes the “village chief” is called the validator.

　　3.2.2 Why become a validator

　　After the validator records the bills without any problems and they are recognized by all miners, the Bitcoin network will issue Bitcoin rewards to the validating miner. The value of Bitcoin is beyond doubt (the current market price is more than 60,000 US dollars), so many people want to become validators to obtain this high compensation.

　　3.2.3 Why do mining viruses occupy a high CPU usage

　　To ensure that all miners compete fairly to become validators, the Bitcoin network uses the pow mechanism (i.e., Proof of Work), which is essentially a hash game. The miner who first uses the specified hash operation on a set of specific data to calculate a hash value that meets certain conditions can become the validator of this round. Due to the irreversible nature of hash operations, miners can only try through a brute force method, so a large number of calculations are required, and calculations depend on CPU, so hackers will try to control a large number of computers through network attacks to mine, so the direct manifestation of mining viruses is the soaring CPU usage rate.

　　The Bitcoin network has developed for 15 years, and the subsequent gameplay has been constantly emerging, such as the currently extremely popular brc20 tokens and NFTs, which have attracted a large number of speculators to participate. However, most of the lottery and How to find it itself does not have good value support, so the price fluctuation is extremely剧烈, with new hundredfold and thousandfold coins emerging in an endless stream. A token worth 1000 yuan a minute may be worth nothing in the next moment, so the author reminds readers to be cautious about participation, first understand its technical essence and common frauds in the financial market, and only then can they keep their property in this false market. If they do not understand, it is best not to touch it, always believe that people cannot make money beyond their own knowledge, even if they make money by luck, they will eventually lose by strength.

　　The professional disease has returned again. As a security practitioner, one is always eager to understand the common hacker attack ideas in the blockchain system. Here, let’s briefly mention two of the most popular attacks: 51% attack and double spending attack.

　　4.2.1 What is a 51% attack

　　A 51% attack, as the name implies, refers to gaining control of more than half of the computing power of the Bitcoin network. Essentially, it is to increase the probability of becoming a validator in the miner competition by more than half, thus creating a soft fork to record the data that hackers want under the conditions of the rules. In order for this soft fork to eventually become the main chain, hackers need to win under the longest chain principle (in the Bitcoin network, this is 6 blocks, or 1 hour), which means hackers need to win more than half of the next 6 rounds of miner competition to make their malicious chain the longest chain.

　　4.2.2 Example Explanation

　　Taking the village accounting as an example, during the accounting process, the bad guys try to become the “village chief” by collaborating with more than half of the total number of people to compete, so as to do evil in the account book. Since the good guys do not recognize the account kept by the bad guys, they will refuse to write it into the account book, resulting in a difference between the accounts kept by the good and bad guys, leading to a forksports betting online websiteThe latest plan. In this case, it is stipulated that in the next n account books, the fork with more accounting times will become the new account book recognized by everyone. Therefore, if the good guys fail in the competition, even if they did not recognize the account book done by the bad guys before, they will still be forced to accept it (note that the acceptance here is conditional, the account book done by the bad guys still cannot violate the rules of smart contracts, otherwise it will lead to a hard fork, and the two chains will become two completely unrelated networks).

　　4.2.3 Supplement

　　It is extremely difficult to control more than half of the total computing power, so the 51% attack is basically impossible to occur in blockchain networks with a large number of nodes like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Moreover, the subsequent POS consensus mechanism also compensates for the defects of the POW consensus mechanism, so this attack can only be understood and does not need to be worried too much. As for many terms mentioned in the text, those who are interested can learn them by themselves, and they will not be explained one by one here.

　　4.3.1 What is Double-Spending Attack

　　As the name implies, using one amount of money for two transactions is what is called a double-spending attack. This is impossible in real life because if you give a hundred cash to one person, you naturally can’t give it to another person. However, in the network world, it is possible to do so because the blockchain records a transaction requires time (i.e., deciding the miner who records the account, verifying the record, and finally broadcasting it to all nodes of the network). The attacker will take advantage of this time while the original cash has not been actually spent, trying to use it for multiple payments.
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　　4.3.2 Solution to Double-Spending Attack

　　In the Bitcoin network, the double-spending attack that may occur during the transaction process is resolved through the UTXO modelsports betting secrets and Latest Address. For another type of double-spending attack, it needs the assistance of a 51% attack, so it will not be elaborated here. Those who are interested can learn it by themselves. It is the tampering of the transaction records that have already been generated, and the most significant advantage of the blockchain is its immutability, which can only be achieved through a 51% attack.

　　4.3.3 UTXO Model

　　The UTXO model is different from the traditional model that only records the results of transactions (i.e., changes in account funds). It records the process of each transaction, that is, from which address how much currency was transferred to which address (this address can be regarded as an account, which is the hash of the public key, designed for simplicity), and ensures that each UTXO can only be used once through smart contracts, thereby eliminating double-spending attacks during the transaction process. The specific details can be learned by yourself. The author is amazed at this idea, it’s too wonderful, brother.

　　Supplement: It is precisely because of this model that the Bitcoin chain has the traceability feature, all transactions are public and transparent, which has laid a solid foundation for the later famous ordinals protocol and created countless legends of rapid wealth.

　　Due to the immature development of blockchain technology and the profound influence of Bitcoin, the mainstream applications are still in the lottery and How to find it trading field. Currently, Ethereum is developing towards the commercial application field, and it is also the second largest blockchain project after Bitcoin. The Ethereum virtual machine is like a decentralized operating system, and the smart contracts deployed on it are like applications downloaded on a computer (isn’t this breaking your understanding of computers? Those who are interested can go and learn about it).

　　Blockchain technology is the core technology of the metaverse. We know that the metaverse is essentially a virtual world that simulates reality. Just as no one can arbitrarily control your fate and assets in the real world, we also do not want others to control our virtual assets in the metaverse world. Based on this concept, the importance of blockchain is self-evident. As a major trend in future development, blockchain technology will also be continuously improved and become more important, worthy of the title of web3.0.

　　Due to the vast amount of knowledge in blockchain and its subversion of the previous network system, there is also a lot of knowledge and technology in it. The author has to use many technical terms when writing the article. However, if they are to be explained in detail one by one, it will make the structure of the article unreasonable and it is also impossible to explain them all. Therefore, it is used as an introduction, and those who are interested can learn about the knowledge of blockchain by themselves.

　　As the author has been involved in blockchain for less than two weeks, if there are any mistakes in the article, please feel free to point them out by big guys; some content may seem difficult to understand because the author has not yet found a very suitable example. If there is an opportunity later, with the deepening of the author’s understanding, some concepts will be expressed in a more easily understandable way. Thank you for your support and understanding.

　　The author emphasizes again here that one should not get involved without fully understanding, from a technical perspective, many coins that have been hyped to high values are essentially worthless. Even the brc20 tokens issued in the Bitcoin network do not have much value in essence, although they are bound to a certain amount of Bitcoin, it is negligible compared to the cost you pay. Speculation requires caution, please be careful!!!