Mina – The majority of currently used blockchains are enormous in size, and for a good reason. Due to the distributed ledger technology used by blockchains, each event and transaction that takes place on the network must be recorded and stored.
Naturally, the number of these transactions and events rises with time and may experience exponential growth if the blockchain has widespread adoption. Eventually, keeping all the data and knowledge on hand could be impossible. As an illustration, the size of the blockchains for Bitcoin and Ethereum, respectively, as of June 2021, is 348 GB and 248 GB, respectively.
As the blockchain gets bigger, it starts to cause issues since maintaining a network node would need a lot of time and hard drive space for the majority of users. That is a significant entrance hurdle that conflicts with the decentralized nature of blockchains. The Mina Protocol was created to address this issue.
The first digital currency protocol with a condensed blockchain is packed in a technology called Mina. The blockchains of popular digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum now contain hundreds of terabytes of data, and this will only happen over time. With Mina, however, the blockchain always remains the same size, at around 22kb [1], regardless of how much usage increases (the size of a few tweets). Users may now easily sync and validate the network as a result.
The cryptocurrency MINA fuels the layer one blockchain known as the Mina Protocol, which aspires to be quick, light, and readily verifiable. On the Mina blockchain, programmers may create decentralized applications and smart contracts that protect user privacy. For example, utilize MINA to open new accounts and make payments for transactions. MINA owners may also stake directly on the network to do computations and verify transactions.
History of the Mina Protocol (MINA)
The Mina Protocol was released from San Francisco, California, and reached the market in 2017. The program’s initiative team is O(1) Labs. The network was once known as the Coda Protocol. Two computer experts and lifelong friends, Evan Shapiro and Izaac Meckler, developed the idea.
2020 saw the debut of Mina following a number of testnet iterations. The technical and economic whitepapers for Mina were issued in March and October of 2020, respectively.
The Mina Protocol got off to a great start. Multicoin Financing, Polychain Capital, and Coinbase Ventures all provided venture capital to the network. A lawsuit was filed against the business in September 2020 because of the name’s resemblance to the Coda Blockchain. The project was renamed the Mina Protocol following the lawsuit.
What does MINA aim to?
Certain Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain networks want to address their scalability issues with the Mina Protocol blockchain. The zk-SNARK method and tiny block sizes used by Mina make it possible for more users to run nodes. The Mina Protocol seeks to enable you to maintain your data in a secure, decentralized manner on a compact and scalable blockchain.
“SNAPPs” and “SNARKs”
Mina uses SNARK technology to accomplish this constant blockchain size (A succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge). Essentially, its blockchain is validated via zero-knowledge proofs. The validation procedure for Mina is a little different than normal because of this new technology. A new block must first be created, and the chain must then be transformed into a SNARK that can be used for validation. Its blockchain can now make use of a wide range of options in its ecosystem, thanks to the usage of SNARKs to validate it. The SNARK Apps (SNAPPS) that Mina has developed make use of this technology in its smart contracts to enable a larger range of applications.
A platform for defi financing being built on the network called Teller would serve as an illustration of this. It won’t directly share any information and will instead validate customer credit scores using zero-knowledge proofs. Without requiring the lender to examine the borrower’s data, the system will deliver a confirmation that the credit score is sufficient. This provides incredibly rare DeFi chances, enhanced privacy, and unrestricted cash flow. There are countless uses for this that may be used in various contexts.
When it comes to the realization of Self-Sovereign identity and the metaverse, the usage of these zero-knowledge proofs will be crucial in the future. The deployment of this cryptographic technique is crucial for establishing trust on the internet. With its SNAPPs ecosystem, Mina has the potential to play a significant role in the adoption of a Self-Sovereign identity. In the future, SNAPPs and Mina may be crucial to identity and data privacy.
Benefits of the Mina Protocol
We covered some of the most apparent advantages above, including having the complete database available and verifiable by almost any internet-connected device and lowering the entrance barrier for most people on earth. This allows for equitable network participation and significantly higher throughput since nodes are able to interact efficiently and come to a consensus more quickly.
Additionally, the low entry barrier assures widespread dispersion of nodes, resulting in increased decentralization without the need for centralized middlemen. The protocol also clearly prioritizes privacy, as SNARKs enable information to be validated while being mathematically concealed.
The challenges MINA deals with
However, Mina is exposed to several dangers and drawbacks. Mina does have difficulties with regard to transaction speed. Although it is quicker than Bitcoin at 22 TPS, according to some reports, it is still not able to keep up with more recent blockchains like Solana or Ripple. This project has a lot of promise if the Mina Protocol team can grow the transaction speed.
In addition, Mina is leveraging incredibly cutting-edge technology as the cornerstone of its blockchain. For the whole initiative to be successful, it will need to continue demonstrating its effectiveness and highlighting its innovative approach’s reliability. The Protocols’ biggest difficulty moving forward will be this. However, if they are proven correct, and the market adopts their technique, investors will see huge rewards.
Final words
In order to address issues with bloated blockchain data, scaling, and growing centralization, the Mina Protocol employs a novel strategy. Of course, all of these problems may arise on any blockchain. Still, successful blockchains tend to be particularly troubled by them because of the increased usage, which causes the total amount of blockchain data to significantly expand, resulting in fewer node operators and too much data.
The integrity and security of the blockchain may be maintained without sacrificing scalability and decentralization because of the Mina Protocol’s innovative, concise approach to blockchain technology. As a result, the technology has a possibility to eventually become one of the key transactional blockchain systems, even if the mainnet has just recently started and the protocol adoption is still low.
Official Website: www.minaprotocol.com
Source: The Pipsafe Team
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