What is the “lightest blockchain in the world”?

The Mina Protocol aims to solve the problems of scalability and decentralization with its own blockchain. The highlight: the network is only 22 kilobytes in size.

The blockchain is now finding its way into more and more areas of life. Although various researchers began thinking about this as early as the 1990s, many still associate the origin of the technology with a shining light in crypto space: Satoshi Nakamoto. There are as many myths about the development of his life’s work, Bitcoin, as there are about the inventor himself. Over the years, a whole new crypto industry with countless different crypto currencies sprouted from this idea, all with – sometimes more, sometimes less different – Optimization or solution approaches to problems that digitization brings with it.

But new technologies also mean new challenges. Issues like data protection, network congestion, transaction costs, ease of use, and ease of integration with traditional services all play a role that can limit progress. That is what the “Mina Protocol” wants to change. The “lightest blockchain in the world” wants to create a “privacy-friendly gateway” between the real and the crypto world. The crypto project from “O (1) Labs“ especially on scalability and decentralization.

Blockchain on 22 kilobytes

The size of the blockchain lightweight is downright tiny compared to other models. The Bitcoin blockchain, for example, is currently a little over 338 gigabytes on. With the Mina Protocol, it’s just 22 kilobytes: a grain of sand in the blockchain Sahara.

Despite the size, every user should be able to establish peer-to-peer connections and quickly synchronize and verify the system. The user becomes a “full node” and has a direct influence on the blockchain. In addition, the proof-of-stake protocol offers programmable payments and above all privacy, all in compliance with the security standards of cryptography.

Mina Protocol relies on zero-knowledge proofs

The fact that the Mina Protocol enables these functions despite its size is due to the use of so-called Zero-Knowledge-Proofs (ZKP). These are implementations that are intended to help implement data protection-compliant, decentralized identity management on a blockchain and to scale private transactions on a blockchain. To do this, it compares confidential information (e.g. account balances) without the communication partners having to disclose their data to each other. In the long term, experts see ZKP as a means to increase the acceptance of companies towards the technology in general. For example, validation processes for car sharing could be accelerated.

The Spanish bank provides a practical example BBVA. In collaboration with the Madrid Research Institute IMDEA software the zero-knowledge-proof technology should be made suitable for the masses.

The benefits of blockchain technology are undisputed. Nevertheless, more and more democratic states are facing the challenge of how decentralization and anonymity can be reconciled with the necessary regulations. This has meanwhile meant that other blockchain ecosystems, such as Bitcoin, are only anonymous to a limited extent, which in turn raises questions of data protection law. Zero-knowledge proofs could offer a solution here.

While other blockchain ecosystems have taken the place of intermediaries before miners, Mina promises that the drive of its mechanism is based solely on community activity. According to its own statements, the project aims to provide “the infrastructure for the secure, democratic future that we all deserve”. It remains to be seen whether it can keep its promise.