There are a multitude of reasons that Stacks chose Bitcoin as the blockchain to power consensus. It is the the one of the oldest blockchain protocols having launched in 2009, and has benefited from all the industry learnings that have occurred since that time. It is far and away the most valuable blockchain network, and BTC has held the highest market cap of any cryptocurrency for the past decade.
There are a multitude of reasons that Stacks chose Bitcoin as the blockchain to power consensus. It is the the one of the oldest blockchain protocols having launched in 2009, and has benefited from all the industry learnings that have occurred since that time. It is far and away the most valuable blockchain network, and BTC has held the highest market cap of any cryptocurrency for the past decade.
Bitcoin champions immutability, and has stood the test of time. It has been proven that influencing or attacking the network would be infeasible or impractical for any potential hackers. It is one of the only cryptocurrencies to bridge the mainstream chasm and gain immense public attention. Bitcoin is now a household name, and is being recognized by governments, large corporations, and legacy banking institutions. Lastly, Bitcoin has been cemented as a reliable store of value, and is the perfect infrastructure to plug into the proof-of-transfer consensus mechanism.
Bitcoin champions immutability, and has stood the test of time. It has been proven that influencing or attacking the network would be infeasible or impractical for any potential hackers. It is one of the only cryptocurrencies to bridge the mainstream chasm and gain immense public attention. Bitcoin is now a household name, and is being recognized by governments, large corporations, and legacy banking institutions. Lastly, Bitcoin has been cemented as a reliable store of value, and is the perfect infrastructure to plug into the proof-of-transfer consensus mechanism.
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## Blocks and Microblocks
## Blocks and Microblocks
The Stacks blockchain allows for increased transaction throughput using a mechanism called microblocks. Bitcoin and Stacks progress in lockstep, and their blocks are confirmed simultaneously. On Stacks, this is referred to as an ‘anchor block’. An entire block of Stack transactions corresponds to a single Bitcoin transaction. This significantly improves cost/byte ratio for processing Stacks transactions. In doing so, the burn chain acts as a decentralized rate-limiter for creating Stacks blocks, thereby preventing denial-of-service attacks on its peer network.
The Stacks blockchain allows for increased transaction throughput using a mechanism called microblocks. Bitcoin and Stacks progress in lockstep, and their blocks are confirmed simultaneously. On Stacks, this is referred to as an ‘anchor block’. An entire block of Stack transactions corresponds to a single Bitcoin transaction. This significantly improves cost/byte ratio for processing Stacks transactions. In doing so, the burn chain acts as a decentralized rate-limiter for creating Stacks blocks, thereby preventing denial-of-service attacks on its peer network.
@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ However, in between Stacks anchor blocks settling on the Bitcoin blockchain, the
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## Unlocking Bitcoin Capital
## Unlocking Bitcoin Capital
Stacks also unlocks the over $1+ Trillion in capital that exists in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and gives Bitcoiners new opportunities to use and earn BTC. Bitcoin invented the art of the “HODL”, and Bitcoiners are watching and waiting for interesting applications to be built that expand BTC’s usability. Stacks made the deliberate design decision to not create a totally independent network, and instead take advantage of the preexisting network effect of Bitcoin.
Stacks also unlocks the over $1+ Trillion in capital that exists in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and gives Bitcoiners new opportunities to use and earn BTC. Bitcoin invented the art of the “HODL”, and Bitcoiners are watching and waiting for interesting applications to be built that expand BTC’s usability. Stacks made the deliberate design decision to not create a totally independent network, and instead take advantage of the preexisting network effect of Bitcoin.
Alexander Graebe
4 years ago
Patrick Gray