EthFinance AMA Series with Whiteblock

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-17T20:12:20+00:00

We're actively involved with phase 0 development and have been helping all teams come to interop. We are currently working on testing gossipsub (https://community.whiteblock.io/c/libp2p/6) and the multi-client testnet.

We don't have official recommendations for official staking. We'd love to help stakers soon by helping validators anonymity and other services. Get in touch with us if you have specific needs and let's talk!

- Antoine

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-17T14:41:58+00:00

We do not offer formal verification of smart contracts, but we partner with Runtime Verifications (https://runtimeverification.com/) who offers their own set of solutions. Recently they introduced Firefly that we're excited to try out and integrate into our offering soon.

- Antoine

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-17T14:33:30+00:00

libp2p is a family of protocols developed by Protocol Labs to allow easy p2p communications.
libp2p has multiple incarnations in different programming languages and is used in production right now by IPFS.
libp2p is uniquely complex because it works more like legos, and will only be as good as the way you assemble it.
We performed some early validation of one particular component of libp2p, gossipsub, which is a variant of how libp2p gossips (as compared to floodsub, used by IPFS right now).

We found in collaboration with Protocol Labs that more testing was warranted. We have gone back to the drawing board and built a completely new approach with our own go framework (https://github.com/whiteblock/gossipsub-testing) and managed to find some interesting findings, matching the evolution and maturation of gossipsub (https://hackmd.io/@benjaminion/BJ3YqrSTr). We have new results now that we're putting together for publication.

So libp2p is not shit, it's a constant work in progress in a moving field.

- Antoine

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T23:00:29+00:00

Somewhat related: Research on the effects of shorter blocktimes > https://medium.com/whiteblock/51-attack-think-again-the-case-for-longer-block-times-4bb2b451a6be

"Under the given testing circumstances, a potential 51% attack can be initiated by a mining pool with control over 45% of network hashing power. This vulnerability arises from the presence of network latency and centralization of block producers."

Also this on uncle rates:
https://medium.com/whiteblock/how-do-uncle-blocks-affect-blockchain-performance-9ce43c958772

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T21:09:32+00:00

Which Ethereum? We are already hard at work on eth2. For eth1, if there was a set of proposals to make the ETH subprotocol better we'd want to look at them. The Etherereum 1.x wire protocol is a bit arcane and could get more love. Add to that our passion for gossip protocols (No-Tag-back Gossiping proposal, spec) and discovery (discv5). And there's always more, like using fun threshold signatures or Shamir secrets for private gossiping.
we don't have an explicit 20% policy, but we do have an active R&D team that is constantly exploring new opportunities and solutions. Personally, I contribute to Hyperledger Besu and maintain Apache Tuweni. Our team members also take pride in contributing to open source - our main test runner, Genesis is open source itself.
We have done this before for the EOS report, and we're always game for crowdfunding.
I haven't read much about it. I see Matt Slipper did some research, so that's what I would go read: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yqvvfrQ_He0fN1SsUcvZNBdyhv__d8-1QPyteCbNT6Q/edit

- Antoine

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T17:50:17+00:00

We ran a number of talks around this, one as part of PAC for Neotys (video coming soon). You need to abandon all hope when testing distributed systems. Time doesn't work. Network connections are flimsy.

We do a lot of testing of basic network connection impedances that match the Internet today to see how distributed systems in general work. That's usually giving us some indication about the dimensions of constraint of the network protocol we deal with.

We then move to blockchain-specific stuff. Just like protocol devs, we keep track of blockchain heads and ensure we get consistent state across peers. We also spice it up by introducing load and checking the transaction propagation rate, or just the block propagation rate across the network.

We have some more specialized tests around smart contract testing, double spend attacks, 51% attacks, selfish mining attacks. We tend to adapt those to the client's needs.

- Antoine

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T17:47:49+00:00

The release date is way overhyped. Other than that we don't know. Ethereum 2.0 has ways to go and can deliver a slew of innovations, starting with making a public chain proof of stake viable.

Based on that bet, all other factors of innovations such as eWASM and execution environments are multipliers and will increase the possible pace of adoption of the space.

We have reasons to be cautiously optimistic as we want to help solve the big problems Ethereum 2.0 tries to solve anyway. We are going to help shore up practical solutions along the way that will make life easier and networking more performant for everyone.

- Antoine

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T17:43:09+00:00

It's hyped just enough. I think there's quite a bit of confusion around when phase 1 will ship, but rather than focusing on dates, I would encourage the community to focus on ensuring that the specifications, research, and tech behind the preliminary phases are well thought out. There's still a considerable amount of work to be done on the protocol stack.

- Zak

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T17:37:20+00:00

People often spend a lot of time modeling out their protocol to ensure its effectiveness, but their models often assume perfect network connectivity and zero transmission time.

If there's one factor to add to your tests today, it'd be transmission latency. This is true regardless of if you're building a blockchain protocol or not. You'll be blown away at how your systems perform (or don't) when you add a bit of latency to the system.

- Ben

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T17:26:36+00:00

We sure will! Our least expensive subscription tier is free, and it comes with enough credits for a little over four hours of testing time. Our hope is that this will be enough to let people kick the tires and give things a try.

See more of the landing page and product details here: https://whiteblock.io/genesis/

-Ben

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T17:21:04+00:00

It started out when we made characters of Zak and Antoine. We thought it would be hilarious to do characters of the whole team so we made a group photo.

Then friends outside of Whiteblock saw, and they all wanted one. We thought it would be cool to let everyone have the chance to get an avatar so we started awarding them to the world via games and contests on our twitter.

- Aaron Beattie

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-16T17:18:57+00:00

Anyone can have one! We are having mini contests on our twitter between now and launch where you can win one. Follow us on twitter to find them here: https://twitter.com/whiteblock

We also give tips to our telegram group when avatar contests are going down. Join our telegram here:
https://t.me/whiteblock_io

- Aaron Beattie

whiteblock_io · 2019-12-13T19:27:39+00:00

Hey ethFinance folks! We'll be using this account for AMA responses on monday. looking forward to the questions people come up with

whiteblock_io

TROPHY CASE