Clear DefinitionsTangle
1 min read
Pronunciation
[tang-guhl]
Analogy
Imagine instead of a single chain of blocks where everyone adds to the end, the Tangle is like a growing spiderweb. To add your own thread (a new transaction) to the web, you must first check and connect it to two existing threads (validate two previous transactions). This helps the web grow stronger and more interconnected with each new thread.
Definition
A type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that uses a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) instead of a traditional blockchain structure. In a Tangle, individual transactions are linked to previous transactions, forming a web-like structure. To issue a new transaction, a user must validate two previous transactions.
Key Points Intro
The Tangle is a blockless DLT architecture designed for scalability and feeless transactions, primarily known from IOTA.
Key Points
Uses a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) to store transactions.
Blockless architecture: individual transactions are the core units, not blocks.
Users validate previous transactions to issue their own, contributing to network consensus.
Aims to enable feeless microtransactions and high scalability, especially for Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Example
IOTA is the most well-known cryptocurrency that uses the Tangle. In the IOTA network, when a device makes a transaction, it must first approve two other transactions it has received.
Technical Deep Dive
In the Tangle, each transaction references two (or more) parent transactions. This creates a DAG structure where transactions confirm each other. The 'weight' of a transaction increases as more subsequent transactions approve it. Consensus is probabilistic and achieved as transactions accumulate more weight. There are no dedicated miners or stakers in the traditional sense; every participant issuing a transaction contributes to the network's security and validation. A coordinator node was historically used by IOTA to protect against certain attacks during the network's early stages, but the goal is to operate without it.
Security Warning
The security model of Tangle-based systems, especially in their coordinator-less state, is different from traditional blockchains and has been subject to ongoing research and scrutiny. Ensuring sufficient transaction volume and honest participation is crucial for security.
Caveat
Achieving robust decentralization and security without a coordinator in a Tangle has been a significant research and development challenge. The practical scalability and security guarantees can differ from theoretical models.
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