Ethereum VS Interledger

[getitdone]

Here is some interesting read and take on recent DAO attack written by Tony Arcieri

 

I am much more interested in a system that solves many of the same problems: Interledger. Interledger connects payment networks the same way the Internet connects data networks. Any currency, store of value, or fungible asset class is welcome. Unlike the Lightning Network, Interledger needs no coordinating blockchain.

 

https://tonyarcieri.com/a-tale-of-two-cryptocurrencies

Edited November 6, 2016 by karlos
edited for copyright

[rippleric]

Perhaps I spend too much time thinking about things through the lens of access control systems, but I think the safest approach is to model smart contracts as a formally provable authorization language which is amenable to model checking. This would involve designing the language in such a way that proofs could be written in an authorization logic, such as Abadi orNexus authorization logic. To me, whether or not to move funds is an authorization decision, and the propositions we put into such a systems are effectively credentials, such as possession of certain cryptographic keys.

The Crypto-Conditions language of the W3C Interledger Protocol(explanatory video here) provides a system that fits this bill. Beyond accepting certain cryptographic inputs, it provides little more than boolean algebra. Clearly this isn’t expressive enough to create something like The DAO, but I’m not sure The DAO is actually a good idea. Instead, a language like this gives us the foundational building blocks for things like escrowing and unlocking funds, a necessary component of connecting ledgers.

Done carefully though, and in the context of a proof framework, I think such languages could be made more expressive than boolean algebra, while avoiding the incomprehensible complexity of what a language like Solidity allows.

[Guest]

Thanks for this post getitdone. I never heard of Tony Arcieri before but I think he has a great writing style and great insight. Definitely worth reading his whole blog, not just the ILP section.

[mDuo13]

This is a great article. I'm not nearly as familiar with the internals of Bitcoin as some of my coworkers, so it's great to get insights like this into proposed block size fixes. I think he's maybe a little harsh on the Lightning Network paper, but it feels nice to see the comparison to the Interledger paper and feel a like we've done something right. (Even though I can't take credit for that paper at all!)