SMC - Revision history

Justin: /* Canary In The Coal Mine */

2024-10-01T12:35:39Z

Canary In The Coal Mine

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:35, 1 October 2024
Line 16:		Line 16:
	For every connection-oriented socket circuit, all commercial implementations guarantees "order-preserved lossless data communication", packet losses, duplicates and errors are automatically corrected in the lower layer protocols. It seems perfectly reasonable to deploy this "hop-to-hop" connected-oriented TCP sockets for mission critical applications.		For every connection-oriented socket circuit, all commercial implementations guarantees "order-preserved lossless data communication", packet losses, duplicates and errors are automatically corrected in the lower layer protocols. It seems perfectly reasonable to deploy this "hop-to-hop" connected-oriented TCP sockets for mission critical applications.

	Unfortunately, the fine-prints in the OSI model specification have not caught any attention. The "order-preserved lossless data communication" is guaranteed only if both the sender and receiver are 100% reliable. If the sender or the receiver can crash arbitrarily, then reliable communication is impossible <ref>https://groups.csail.mit.edu/tds/papers/Lynch/jacm93.pdf</ref>. In practice, we call the TCP/IP protocol the "best effort" reliable protocol for all nodes are indeed try their best to forward packets and repair errors and duplicates. Building mission critical application using these protocols is inappropriate.		Unfortunately, the fine-prints in the OSI model specification have not caught any attention. The "order-preserved lossless data communication" is guaranteed only if both the sender and receiver are 100% reliable. If the sender or the receiver can crash arbitrarily, then reliable communication is impossible <ref>https://groups.csail.mit.edu/tds/papers/Lynch/jacm93.pdf</ref>. In practice, we call the TCP/IP protocol the "best effort" reliable protocol for all nodes are indeed try their best to forward packets and repair errors and duplicates. Building mission critical application using these protocols directly is inappropriate.

	The problem is that it is impossible to eliminate single-point failures. The "canary" worked well only for communication applications where data losses and service downtimes can be tolerated ~~to some extent~~. For mission critical applications, such as banking, trading, air/sea/land navigation, service crashes can cause irreparable damages and loss of human lives.		The problem is that it is impossible to eliminate single-point failures. The "canary" worked well only for communication applications where data losses and service downtimes can be tolerated. For mission critical applications, such as banking, trading, air/sea/land navigation, service crashes can cause irreparable damages and loss of human lives.

	Even for banking applications, arbitrary transaction losses cannot be eliminated completely. Banks resort to legal measures to compensate verified customer losses. There are unclaimed funds to be handled by the banks.		Even for banking applications, arbitrary transaction losses cannot be eliminated completely. Banks resort to legal measures to compensate verified customer losses. There are unclaimed funds to be handled by the banks.

	In business, the IT professionals simply try to minimize "opportunity costs". Solving the infrastructure scaling problem seems ~~out of~~ reach ~~for most people~~.		In business, the IT professionals simply try to minimize "opportunity costs". Solving the infrastructure scaling problem seems beyond our reach.

	==Fruits of Poisonous Tree==		==Fruits of Poisonous Tree==

Justin: /* Blockchain Protocols */

2024-05-30T20:50:11Z

Blockchain Protocols

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:50, 30 May 2024
Line 85:		Line 85:
	However, scalability remains the common challenge to all blockchain protocols. For POW consensus chains, the increasing energy consumption caused serious sustainability concerns. Since the cryptographic proved ledgers are immutable, for POS chains, although more than 99% energy consumption reduction can be achieved, the blockchain network's scalability is still challenged, since the chains will have to shutdown when all nodes storage are saturated.		However, scalability remains the common challenge to all blockchain protocols. For POW consensus chains, the increasing energy consumption caused serious sustainability concerns. Since the cryptographic proved ledgers are immutable, for POS chains, although more than 99% energy consumption reduction can be achieved, the blockchain network's scalability is still challenged, since the chains will have to shutdown when all nodes storage are saturated.

	It is evident that all blockchains should be infinitely scalable. This means that expanding the network (adding nodes) should increase the network's performance, reliability and security. This is the motivation for the SMC Blockchain Protocol.		It is evident that all blockchains should be infinitely scalable to be considered "digital gold". This means that expanding the network (adding nodes) should increase the network's performance, reliability and security. This is the motivation for the SMC Blockchain Protocol.

	== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==		== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==

Justin: /* SMC POS Consensus */

2024-05-30T20:45:14Z

SMC POS Consensus

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:45, 30 May 2024
Line 107:		Line 107:

	== SMC POS Consensus ==		== SMC POS Consensus ==
	SMC POS consensus protocol randomly selects staking validators without staking pools to ~~avoid 51% attacks~~. SMC POS protocol also has an adjustable replication factor that the network ledger has a fixed replication factor that can be tuned on demand without service interruptions. Therefore, adding nodes, the SMC POS consensus protocol can deliver:		SMC POS consensus protocol randomly selects staking validators without staking pools to deter centralization attempts. SMC POS protocol also has an adjustable replication factor that the network ledger has a fixed replication factor that can be tuned on demand without service interruptions. Therefore, adding nodes, the SMC POS consensus protocol can deliver:

	# Byzantine failure resistance		# Byzantine failure resistance
Line 115:		Line 115:
	# Incrementally better performance, security and reliability		# Incrementally better performance, security and reliability

	More nodes in the network expands the network storage capacity without increasing replication overheads. More nodes facilitates longer ~~pipelines~~ for better performances and better randomness for security. Higher R ~~value improves~~ service reliability.		More nodes in the network expands the network storage capacity without increasing replication overheads. More nodes facilitates longer pipeline and higher parallelism for better performances and better randomness for security. Higher R values improve service reliability. Lower R values deliver better performances. Since the number of nodes can be far greater than R, monotonic performance increase can always be achieved. Most importantly, the native SMC protocol supports all these network parameter adjustments without protocol change.

	SMC blockchain protocol is also silent on transaction retransmission discipline. Since it is impossible to "double spend" under SMC protocol, transaction retransmission will enable different approval routes without double-spend risks (multiplexing). This ensures seamless integration with legacy blockchain wallets and infrastructures.		SMC blockchain protocol is also silent on transaction retransmission discipline. Since it is impossible to "double spend" under SMC protocol, transaction retransmission will enable different approval routes without double-spend risks (multiplexing). This ensures seamless integration with legacy blockchain wallets and infrastructures.

Justin: /* SMC Blockchain Protocol */

2024-05-30T20:33:34Z

SMC Blockchain Protocol

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:33, 30 May 2024
Line 92:		Line 92:
	Unlike other chains, SMC Blockchain Protocol only maintains (R > 1) copies of the ledger on randomly selected nodes. This enables the overall network storage capacity to grow indefinitely by adding more nodes. The value of R constrains the transaction replication overheads to a constant thus accelerating transaction processing throughput by adding nodes. The actual R value can be determined experimentally without stopping service.		Unlike other chains, SMC Blockchain Protocol only maintains (R > 1) copies of the ledger on randomly selected nodes. This enables the overall network storage capacity to grow indefinitely by adding more nodes. The value of R constrains the transaction replication overheads to a constant thus accelerating transaction processing throughput by adding nodes. The actual R value can be determined experimentally without stopping service.

	The SMC Blockchain network supports regular, "staking" and "seed" nodes. A regular node is similar to a "light node" in Bitcoin that only receives transactions and forwards them to "staking" nodes. A regular node can ~~also~~ store validated blocks and be paid for the storage and accesses. A "staking" node is uniquely associated with a wallet address ~~with~~ a staking contract, such as "50 TOINs for 3 months starting now". The staking contracts are used by randomly selected "seed" nodes to build random transaction validation committees (Prove of Stake consensus protocol). ~~Also unlike Bitcoin and other chains, transactions are not replicated before validation.~~		The SMC Blockchain network (TOIchain) supports regular, "staking" and "seed" nodes. A regular node is similar to a "light node" in Bitcoin that only receives transactions and forwards them to "staking" nodes. Unlike a Bitcoin "light node", a regular TOI node can optionally store validated blocks and be paid (need a unique wallet address) for the storage and accesses. A "staking" node is a regular node uniquely associated with another wallet address by a "staking contract", such as "50 TOINs for 3 months starting now". The staking contracts are used by randomly selected "seed" nodes to build random transaction validation committees (Prove of Stake consensus protocol).

	The TOI Foundation maintains the "seed" nodes ~~that are responsible for generating~~ network ~~heartbeats: EPOCH~~.		A "seed" node is TOI Foundation supported service. They serve as the DNS for TOIchain and have all features as a "staking" node where the "staking contract" and wallet address are owned by TOI Foundation. The TOIchain operates on EPOCHs as heartbeats for the network. Each EPOCH corresponds to a randomly selected "validation committee" of "staking" nodes. A randomly selected "seed" node set decides the formation of committee.

			Each "validation committee" can have up to 128 validators. Each validator validates local transactions in parallel against the current best chain state. The committee assembles a block of partially validated transactions for committee-wide validation. A majority agreement will decide the fully validated transactions into the new block. The block is considered "confirmed" but not "finalized".

			The new block must be validated against the EPOCH-id -1 block before it is "finalized". This step is skipped for the genesis block. The committees must wait until the EPOCH-id -1 block becomes the chain tip. Thus, multiple validation committees form a virtual pipeline at runtime. Finalized blocks match generated EPOCHs. Transactions fail in any stage are removed from the block. There maybe empty blocks where all transactions fail or the network is idling.

			Transactions may be replicated before validation to improve the chance of being included into a block by paying more fees. The redundant transactions will fail except for the first one.

			When the network has no "staking" nodes, the "seed" nodes become "staking" nodes to keep the network operational. The TOI Foundation receives the transaction fees and validation rewards.

			The TOI Foundation maintains the "seed" nodes and the overall network security and safety via automatic network monitoring and maintenance scripts.

	== SMC POS Consensus ==		== SMC POS Consensus ==
	SMC POS consensus ~~will~~ randomly ~~select~~ staking validators without staking pools. SMC POS protocol also has an adjustable replication factor that the network ledger has a fixed replication factor that can be tuned on demand without service interruptions. Therefore, SMC POS consensus protocol can deliver:		SMC POS consensus protocol randomly selects staking validators without staking pools to avoid 51% attacks. SMC POS protocol also has an adjustable replication factor that the network ledger has a fixed replication factor that can be tuned on demand without service interruptions. Therefore, adding nodes, the SMC POS consensus protocol can deliver:

	# Byzantine failure resistance		# Byzantine failure resistance
Line 105:		Line 115:
	# Incrementally better performance, security and reliability		# Incrementally better performance, security and reliability

	More nodes in the network expands the network storage capacity without ~~adding extra redundancy~~. More nodes facilitates longer pipelines for better performances.		More nodes in the network expands the network storage capacity without increasing replication overheads. More nodes facilitates longer pipelines for better performances and better randomness for security. Higher R value improves service reliability.

	SMC blockchain protocol is also silent on transaction retransmission discipline. ~~Transaction~~ retransmission will enable different approval routes without double-spend risks. This ensures seamless integration with legacy blockchain wallets.		SMC blockchain protocol is also silent on transaction retransmission discipline. Since it is impossible to "double spend" under SMC protocol, transaction retransmission will enable different approval routes without double-spend risks (multiplexing). This ensures seamless integration with legacy blockchain wallets and infrastructures.

	== Summary ==		== Summary ==

Justin: /* SMC Blockchain Protocol */

2024-05-30T19:34:26Z

SMC Blockchain Protocol

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:34, 30 May 2024
Line 88:		Line 88:

	== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==		== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==
	SMC blockchain protocol aims to solve the scalability challenge by enabling automated parallel processing ~~without negatively impacting the~~ network security and reliability. The ACAN concept is a perfect fit for this case. ACAN enables automated SMC by forcing the transaction validation ~~blocks~~ to form SIMD, MIMD and pipeline clusters in real time.		SMC blockchain protocol aims to solve the scalability challenge by enabling automated parallel processing while enhancing network security and reliability at the same time. The ACAN concept is a perfect fit for this case. ACAN enables automated SMC by forcing the transaction validation processes to form SIMD, MIMD and pipeline clusters in real time.

			Unlike other chains, SMC Blockchain Protocol only maintains (R > 1) copies of the ledger on randomly selected nodes. This enables the overall network storage capacity to grow indefinitely by adding more nodes. The value of R constrains the transaction replication overheads to a constant thus accelerating transaction processing throughput by adding nodes. The actual R value can be determined experimentally without stopping service.

			The SMC Blockchain network supports regular, "staking" and "seed" nodes. A regular node is similar to a "light node" in Bitcoin that only receives transactions and forwards them to "staking" nodes. A regular node can also store validated blocks and be paid for the storage and accesses. A "staking" node is uniquely associated with a wallet address with a staking contract, such as "50 TOINs for 3 months starting now". The staking contracts are used by randomly selected "seed" nodes to build random transaction validation committees (Prove of Stake consensus protocol). Also unlike Bitcoin and other chains, transactions are not replicated before validation.

			The TOI Foundation maintains the "seed" nodes that are responsible for generating network heartbeats: EPOCH.

	== SMC POS Consensus ==		== SMC POS Consensus ==

Justin: /* Blockchain Protocols */

2024-05-30T18:59:29Z

Blockchain Protocols

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:59, 30 May 2024
Line 85:		Line 85:
	However, scalability remains the common challenge to all blockchain protocols. For POW consensus chains, the increasing energy consumption caused serious sustainability concerns. Since the cryptographic proved ledgers are immutable, for POS chains, although more than 99% energy consumption reduction can be achieved, the blockchain network's scalability is still challenged, since the chains will have to shutdown when all nodes storage are saturated.		However, scalability remains the common challenge to all blockchain protocols. For POW consensus chains, the increasing energy consumption caused serious sustainability concerns. Since the cryptographic proved ledgers are immutable, for POS chains, although more than 99% energy consumption reduction can be achieved, the blockchain network's scalability is still challenged, since the chains will have to shutdown when all nodes storage are saturated.

	It is evident that all blockchains should be infinitely scalable. This means that expanding the network (adding nodes) should increase the network's performance, reliability and security.		It is evident that all blockchains should be infinitely scalable. This means that expanding the network (adding nodes) should increase the network's performance, reliability and security. This is the motivation for the SMC Blockchain Protocol.

	== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==		== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==

Justin: /* Blockchain Protocols */

2024-05-30T18:58:29Z

Blockchain Protocols

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:58, 30 May 2024
Line 82:		Line 82:

	It is also interesting to observe that the blockchain protocols are silent on transaction re-transmission discipline. The blockchain wallets are responsible to check their own transactions' status and retransmit if necessary. Since double-spending is not possible, retransmitting a transaction is a trivial matter and it would most likely find a different route for transaction approval.		It is also interesting to observe that the blockchain protocols are silent on transaction re-transmission discipline. The blockchain wallets are responsible to check their own transactions' status and retransmit if necessary. Since double-spending is not possible, retransmitting a transaction is a trivial matter and it would most likely find a different route for transaction approval.

			However, scalability remains the common challenge to all blockchain protocols. For POW consensus chains, the increasing energy consumption caused serious sustainability concerns. Since the cryptographic proved ledgers are immutable, for POS chains, although more than 99% energy consumption reduction can be achieved, the blockchain network's scalability is still challenged, since the chains will have to shutdown when all nodes storage are saturated.

			It is evident that all blockchains should be infinitely scalable. This means that expanding the network (adding nodes) should increase the network's performance, reliability and security.

	== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==		== SMC Blockchain Protocol ==

Justin: /* Canary In The Coal Mine */

2023-08-01T16:46:27Z

Canary In The Coal Mine

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:46, 1 August 2023
Line 12:		Line 12:

	==Canary In The Coal Mine==		==Canary In The Coal Mine==
	The TCP/IP protocol was an experimental protocol for connecting arbitrary two computers in the world-wide network like the "canary in a coal mine". The OSI model <ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model</ref> is a conceptual model from the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) that provides "a common basis for the coordination of standards development for the purpose of systems interconnection <ref>https://www.iso.org/standard/20269.html</ref>. Today, its 7-layer model is widely taught in universities and technology schools.		The TCP/IP protocol was an experimental protocol for connecting arbitrary two computers reliably in the world-wide network like the "canary in a coal mine". The OSI model <ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model</ref> is a conceptual model from the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) that provides "a common basis for the coordination of standards development for the purpose of systems interconnection <ref>https://www.iso.org/standard/20269.html</ref>. Today, its 7-layer model is widely taught in universities and technology schools.

	For every connection-oriented socket circuit, all commercial implementations guarantees "order-preserved lossless data communication", packet losses, duplicates and errors are automatically corrected in the lower layer protocols. It seems perfectly reasonable to deploy this "hop-to-hop" connected-oriented TCP sockets for mission critical applications.		For every connection-oriented socket circuit, all commercial implementations guarantees "order-preserved lossless data communication", packet losses, duplicates and errors are automatically corrected in the lower layer protocols. It seems perfectly reasonable to deploy this "hop-to-hop" connected-oriented TCP sockets for mission critical applications.

Justin: /* Fruits of Poisonous Tree */

2023-07-23T02:53:58Z

Fruits of Poisonous Tree

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:53, 22 July 2023
Line 25:		Line 25:

	==Fruits of Poisonous Tree==		==Fruits of Poisonous Tree==
	The "hop-to-hop" protocol is the DNA of existing enterprise system program ~~paradigms. It is the root of existing enterprise application programming~~ paradigms. These include RPC (remote procedure call), MPI (message passing interface), RMI (remote method invocation) ~~and~~ distributed share-memory. These are the only means to communicate and retrieve data from a remote computer.		The "hop-to-hop" protocol is the DNA of existing enterprise system program paradigms. These include RPC (remote procedure call), MPI (message passing interface), RMI (remote method invocation), distributed share-memory and many others. These are the only means to communicate and retrieve data from a remote computer.

	Applications built using these protocols form infrastructures that have many single-point failures. Every such point failure can bring down the entire enterprise.		Applications built using these protocols form infrastructures that have many single-point failures. Every such point failure can bring down the entire enterprise.

Justin: /* Blockchain Protocols */

2023-07-04T22:30:56Z

Blockchain Protocols

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:30, 4 July 2023
Line 70:		Line 70:
	Programs in ACAN are "stateless" programs that can run on any computer in ACAN. Therefore the ACAN infrastructure will have no single-point failures regardless the scale. The ACAN infrastructure can be repaired or resized in real time without interrupting service. Real time granularity change is also possible without interrupting services.		Programs in ACAN are "stateless" programs that can run on any computer in ACAN. Therefore the ACAN infrastructure will have no single-point failures regardless the scale. The ACAN infrastructure can be repaired or resized in real time without interrupting service. Real time granularity change is also possible without interrupting services.

	A more remarkable feature of ACAN applications is the ability to deliver unbounded performance as the infrastructure expands in size with open problem sizes. It is capable to harness multiple quantum computers.		A more remarkable feature of ACAN applications is the ability to deliver unbounded performance as the infrastructure expands in size with open problem sizes. It is theoretically capable to harness multiple quantum computers.

	==Blockchain Protocols==		==Blockchain Protocols==