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The present programming languages used to code Blockchain are incapable of programming sophisticated smart contracts. There is always a trade-off between reliability and expressiveness, forcing programmers to go in for either a complex but unreliable or a basic but reliable smart contract.
Why does the crypto world feel the need for a language simpler than the existing Blockchain Script?
Blockchain technology in itself is a disruption that does not abide by the traditional programming codes. There are several unique assertions posed by blockchains:
- For every specific environment, all the users must agree on the conclusion of a computation. This blockchain consensus applies to all possible results for every possible input to a program upfront.
- All the users must be careful about service attacks consuming excessive energy and must be able to understand the costs involved in the program execution for all possible inputs.
Other existing challenges, such as:
- Programming languages designed explicitly for Blockchain, such as EVM, still face these challenges. Events such as an EVM upgrade failure during testing, unrecoverable or stolen funds due to contract logic errors prove the incapabilities of current languages.
- Bitcoin’s Script language isn’t expressive enough for smart contracts that are more complex and is limited to combinations of timelocks, hashlocks, and digital signature checks.
What is Simplicity?
“Only once in my life have I encountered a programming language that was too simple to use. That was Lispkit Lisp. I can now add a second system to the list of those that are too simple, the appropriately-titled Simplicity, developed by Russell O’Connor of Blockstream.”
~(Philip Wadler, A Review of Simplicity
What if we tell you there is an answer to the problem and you could get the best of both worlds with it? Simplicity, a typed combinator-based functional language with no loops or recursion, has been explicitly designed for cryptocurrencies and Blockchain applications. Developers can code sophisticated smart contracts such as side chains or independent blockchains using Simplicity’s features.
It is a low-level programming language and machine model for smart contracts based on Blockchain. It consists of simple semantics that lend themselves to static analysis and reasoning by formal methods. The core of the language is so simple that it can fit on a T-shirt though this doesn’t mean simplicity of development. The language is defined by its implementation in the Coq proof assistant.
What implications does it hold for Bitcoin and Blockchain?
Simplicity was proposed by Russell O’Connor in a paper for a possible replacement of Bitcoin Script called Simplicity. Here’s what he had got to say:
“[Simplicity] aims to improve upon existing crypto-currency languages, such as Bitcoin Script and Ethereum’s EVM, while avoiding some of the problems they face. Simplicity comes with formal denotational semantics defined in Coq, a popular, general-purpose software proof assistant.”
Simplicity can prove to be a turning point for Bitcoin and Blockchain in the distant future. Experts call it a ‘major step in the right direction for smart contracting languages.’
- A Blockchain programming model is fundamentally different from an ordinary programming model. In Blockchain, computations are verified rather than performed. As such, there is no requirement for Turing-completeness as even arbitrary codes can be verified using Simplicity. This can have powerful implications for Blockchain. Russell says, ‘Owing to its Turing incompleteness, Simplicity is amenable to static analysis that can be used to derive upper bounds on the computational resources needed, prior to execution. While Turing incomplete, Simplicity can express any finitary function, which we believe is enough to build useful “smart contracts” for blockchain applications.’
- After a smart contract has been deployed, there is no room for correcting mistakes. The language has addressed this problem. Simplicity empowers its users to create formal proofs of correctness for their smart contracts.
- Being an extremely low-level language to be used for direct execution, it can be expected that the users might write their contracts in high-level language/s to be compiled later to Simplicity.
- Simplicity can be a valuable approach to serve more than just a replacement for bitcoin script. Simplicity could also be used as a means to implement and prove runtime bounds over new modular consensus code. It could also be used for signing oracles or other such applications.
- Simplicity can assure higher security guarantees valuable for crypto trading platforms like WazirX (that show Bitcoin price in INR) as users can give proofs about their contracts to avoid logical errors in the program. It can also let the users reason about the correctness along with the performance of their contracts.
- Simplicity can open interesting applications such as vaults, trust-minimized escrow, and other complex smart contracts that can be valuable for any cryptocurrency and Bitcoin exchange in India and worldwide.
- It can help maintain the self-contained Bitcoin transactions of Bitcoin, which would help secure the nodes as programs will not have any access to information outside the transaction.
In many ways, Simplicity is best characterized by what features it leaves out rather than what features it contains. There can be innumerable fronts for Simplicity development in the future that could transform Blockchain coding. Simplicity, as a programming language, can provide the required flexibility and expressiveness for any kind of computations while simultaneously allowing the verification of safety, security, and cost of the smart contracts.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Bitcoins Are There?
There are 18,730,931.25 Bitcoins in circulation as of June 2021. The total number of Bitcoins that would ever be there is just 21 million. On average, 144 blocks are mined every day, with 6.25 Bitcoins per block. The average number of new Bitcoins mined every day is 900, calculated by multiplying 144 by 6.25.
How Bitcoin Mining Works?
Bitcoin mining is a crucial element of the blockchain ledger's upkeep and development and the act of bringing new Bitcoins into circulation. It's done with the help of cutting-edge computers that solve exceedingly challenging computational arithmetic problems. Auditor miners are rewarded for their work. They're in charge of ensuring that Bitcoin transactions go through smoothly and legitimately. This standard was established by Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, to keep Bitcoin users ethical. By confirming transactions, miners assist in avoiding the "double-spending issue."
What Is The Meaning Of Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency that was first introduced in January 2009. It is invented based on the key concepts and notions presented in a whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto, a mysterious and pseudonymous figure. The name of the individual or people who invented technology is yet unknown. Bitcoin promises reduced transaction fees than existing online payment methods, and a decentralized authority controls it, unlike government-issued currencies.
How Bitcoin Works?
Bitcoin is based on the blockchain, a distributed digital ledger. As the name implies, blockchain is a connected database made up of blocks that hold information about each transaction, such as the date and time, total value, buyer and seller, and a unique identifier for each exchange. Entries are linked in chronological sequence, forming a digital chain of blocks. Blockchain is decentralized, meaning a centralized institution does not own it
Who Created Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the first application of the concept of "cryptocurrency," first articulated in 1998 on the cypherpunks mailing list by Wei Dai, who proposed a new form of money that relies on cryptography rather than a central authority to manage its creation and transactions. Satoshi Nakamoto published the initial Bitcoin specification and proof of concept on the cryptography mailing list in 2009. Satoshi exited the project in late 2010, with little information about himself available. Since then, the community has evolved, with numerous people working on Bitcoin. Satoshi's anonymity has sparked unfounded fears, many of which may be traced back to a misunderstanding of Bitcoin's open-source nature.
How Many Bitcoins Will Ever Be Created?
The source code of Bitcoin stipulates that it must have a restricted and finite quantity. As a result, only 21 million Bitcoins will ever be generated. These Bitcoins are added to the Bitcoin supply at a predetermined rate of one block every ten minutes on average. The supply of Bitcoins will be depleted once miners have unlocked this number of Bitcoins. It's possible, however, that the protocol for Bitcoin will be altered to allow for a higher supply.
Is Bitcoin Cash A Good Investment?
Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Bitcoin formed in 2017 to address Bitcoin's scalability and challenges. Bitcoin Cash seeks to make global transactions faster, cheaper, and more secure. Bitcoin Cash is now accepted by thousands of online and offline businesses all over the world. Studied correctly, Bitcoin Cash may be an investment worthy of consideration.
What Are The Chances Of Bitcoin Crashing?
Two Yale University economists (Yukun Liu and Aleh Tsyvinski) produced research titled "Risks and Returns of Cryptocurrency" in 2018. They looked at the possibility of Bitcoin crashing to zero in a single day. The authors discovered that the chances of an undefined tragedy crashing Bitcoin to zero ranged from 0 percent to 1.3 percent and was around 0.4 percent at the time of publishing, using Bitcoin's history returns to determine its risk-neutral disaster probability. Others claim that because Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, it will inevitably crash to zero. On the other hand, Bitcoin advocates argue that the currency is backed by customer confidence and mathematics.
How Does Bitcoin Technology Work?
The blockchain is the foundation of Bitcoin. It is a decentralized, distributed ledger that tracks the provenance of digital assets. The data on a blockchain can't be changed by design, making it a real disruptor in industries like payments, cybersecurity, and healthcare.
What Type Of Currency Is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a type of digital currency or cryptocurrency. In January 2009, Bitcoin was established. It's based on Satoshi Nakamoto's ideas, which he laid out in a whitepaper. The name of the individual or people who invented the technology remains unknown.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is currently unregulated. Kindly ensure that you undertake sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information provided in this section doesn't represent any investment advice or WazirX's official position. WazirX reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change this blog post at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.
