Protocol Wars In Blockchain World, Who Will Lead The Road
By Tanvir Zafar on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
Currently, there is a lot of talk about how the Internet has become a shadow of what it was designed to be. The technology, which was designed decades ago, was supposed to be the solution to several problems that humanity faced. However, while it did a pretty good job of providing that solution, it also created a few more.
Today, one of the biggest issues associated with the Internet as a whole is the fact that people, companies, and even countries have now been able to weaponize this revolutionary technology and use it to fit their needs. The perfect example of that, of course, is with surveillance and tracking.
By gaining access to the location of people who log on to the web, authorities have been able to either use this data for the purpose of making steady profits, keep tabs on the movements of people who they deem to be threats at will, or goon to restrict people from certain aspects of the Internet altogether.
In order to help with breaking free from the shackles of the establishment, Virtual Private Networks were set up. The networks help to keep the identities of people concealed while allowing them to enjoy optimal security and browse the Internet easily.
Sadly, these VPNs have also proven not to be perfect. Security issues are still a problem, in it is also possible for the networks to be slow or unable to scale due to an influx of users.
To remedy this situation, several designers and companies have chosen to apply the concept of blockchain technology to VPNs. In this piece, we take a look at two of the most promising and provide a few details concerning how they work:
The Orchid Protocol
The Orchid Protocol collects bandwidth sellers and organizes them into a structured peer-to-peer network, which it terms the Orchid Market. The scheme for the network shows that all customers of the network will be able to connect to the Orchid market and pay bandwidth sellers so as to form a proxy chain to a resource.
We already spoke about the issue of location tagging. However, the major differentiating factor in the orchid protocol is that it naturally separates information about the source of the user from the destination of the network. On this network, there is no single relay that holds both pieces of information, or which knows the identity of the user.
The Orchid network structure supports this separation of information by providing strong resistance against attacks that are aimed at collecting sensitive locational information. Also, it is important to note that the Orchid Market provides a “fixed-rate relaying” to prevent traffic analysis, and thanks to its token payment system, it is able to prevent participating in any activity that doesn’t revolve around the concealment of your identity.
Entry into the Orchid Market is gained through a proof-of-work, which is called the Medallion. The Medallions are tied closely to the Ethereum block digest, and are used in two ways in the Orchid Market:
1. Preventing trivial entry into the market that can result in information theft or a direct attack
2. Keeping attackers themselves from choosing their location on the market
In order to prevent attackers from owning more market activity than is proportional to their share of the total computational power of the Orchid Market, market participants are required to check the validity of the Medallions in the connection. If a valid Medallion isn’t supplied for any reason, then it is disconnected from the network.
All in all, the Orchid network has the potential of disrupting the entire VPN market and providing a new way of transporting and encrypting traffic across a larger network.
The Tachyon Protocol
The Tachyon Protocol is so far one of the most important and innovative blockchain projects that operate in the anonymity and online security market. The network is built on the V SYSTEMS blockchain, and it aims to build an information network that provides all of the benefits of decentralization; speed, scalability, security, and reliability.
The Tachyon architectural model is aimed at completing a complete overhaul of the existing TCP/IP communication ecosystem. By combining blockchain technology, UDP., DHT, and encryption, the project is currently working on building the next generation of TCP/IP systems that will be able to provide self-sufficiency in Internet connection, while also achieving high-security levels, an imperviousness to tracing, and maximum network speed.
The Tachyon environment relies on the Tachyon booster UDP to replace the Internet, Application, and Transport layers of the TCP/IP model. It comes with three distinct layers- the Internet layer, the Transport layer, and the Application layer- an all of these layers use a wide array of tools to ensure the following:
1. Facilitating P2P network collaboration
2. Implementing complete anti-censorship on the network
3. Increasing robustness and scalability
4. Improving transmission efficiency
5. Reducing packet loss and maximizing the throughout efficiency
As for security, the Tachyon network makes use of its very own security protocol, which employs AES to ensure that connections are encrypted. In addition to that, the AES combines several hash algorithms to ensure that a disruption in the communication channel will lead to the network getting ignored.
The entire Tachyon network is implementing an open, P2P market system where nodes will be able to provide services to one another. The ecosystem will support three primary types of nodes; Provider nodes, Business nodes, and Client nodes. To help make services and transactions, the designers of the network built the IPX token, which is hosted on the V SYSTEMS blockchain. All provider nodes will be able to stake a certain amount of IPX tokens as a security deposit, although all participants in the Tachyon ecosystem can use the IPX token as a payment method.
