Blockchain Frameworks — Part 3: Blockchain Types
In this and the next articles I will make an explanation of the Blockchain technology and its most known frameworks
INDEX:
- Part 1: Introduction
- Part 2: Smart Contracts
- Part 3: Blockchain Types
- Part 4: Ethereum
- Part 5: Hyperledger
- Part 6: IOTA
- Part 7: Quorum
- Part 8: Extra 1; Hedera Hashgraph
- Part 8: Extra 2; Libra
Part 3: Blockchain Types:
The Blockchains that now exists can be divided into 3 types based on how is carried out the management of the network participants (peers), they are the following:
- Public Blockchains: Opened to a wide range of individuals
- Private Blockchains: Opened to a limited number of individuals
- Hybrid Blockchains: Depends on the framework that implements the blockchain
Both public and private blockchains (and also hybrids ones) have advantages and disadvantages. Once you know this, you should choose the one that best suits the use case in which you want to use Blockchain.
Public Blockchains:
In the public blockchains anyone can join the public network. The participant reads, adds entries, as well as participates in blockchain processes.
Such systems are distinguished by decentralization, which means the absence of any third-party control over the blockchain, as well as the protection of blocks against changes after confirmation of verification in the system.
Advantages:
- Full decentralization
- Openness to add and read information — all participants are equally capable of viewing and performing operations
- Immutability
Disadvantages
- Slow transactions < 30 TPS
- Limited number of transactions in each block
- Excessive openness of a public blockchain may be a disadvantage for some companies, as there is no privacy due to the available transaction history
Private Blockchains
A private blockchain only allows a limited number of participants to read the chain. These participants are known and must be authorized in advance.
Private type Blockchains are more suited to the business environment where you do not want the content stored in the blockchain to be public.
Advantages:
- Control over which entities can participate in the blockchain
- Faster transactions than Public Blockchains
- Improved scalability — a weighty plus is the ability to add nodes and necessary services
- Private transactions
Disadvantages
- As the number of participants increases the risk of attacks on the registry increases too.
- Centralized control is a huge disadvantage since the rules are established by one person or a group of persons.
Hybrid Blockchains
A private blockchain only allows a limited number of participants to read the chain. These participants are known and must be authorized in advance.
Hybrid Blockchains lie somewhere between private and public blockchains, depending on their architecture.
Generally the operation of a hybrid Blockchain depends on the framework that implements it.
The hybrid blockchain is distinguishable from the fact that they are not open to everyone, but still offers blockchain features such as integrity, transparency, and security.
Permissionless & Permissioned Blockchains
In addition to the separation of the Blockchains in public, private and hybrids, within these we can also in the other two categories:
- Permissionless Blockchains are open and decentralized. Any peer can join and leave the network as a reader and writer at any time. Interestingly, there is no central entity that manages the membership, or which could ban illegitimate readers or writers.
This openness implies that the written content is readable by any peer. With the use of cryptographic primitives, however, it is technically feasible to design a permissionless blockchain which hides private relevant information,
- Permissioned Blockchains only authorize a limited set of readers and writers. Here, a central entity decides and attributes the right to individual peers to participate in the write or read operations of the blockchain.
To provide encapsulation and privacy, the reader and writer could also run in separated parallel blockchains that are interconnected.
Also Read: Permissionless Blockchain vs Permissioned Blockchain
When to use Blockchain and which one to use?
