In the near future, we can expect further development and improvements in crosschain protocols and platforms. This includes improvements in the security, scalability and efficiency of cross-blockchain transactions. Such improvements will not only increase the reliability and usability of crosschain solutions, but also expand their possible applications.

One of the key areas of crosschain technology development is integration with other advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things. This will enable the creation of more complex and intelligent systems that can effectively communicate between different blockchains and automate a number of processes.

In finance, crosschain technologies can further facilitate the growth and development of decentralized finance (DeFi). They provide opportunities to create more complex financial products that can work across different blockchains, offering users greater flexibility and accessibility.

Crosschain technologies can also be expected to play an important role in improving global supply chains and logistics. They can help provide more transparent and efficient supply chain management by tracking the origin and movement of goods between different jurisdictions and systems.

The future of crosschain technologies may also lead to the development of new forms of government and social services, where different blockchains can interact to provide more efficient and transparent public services.

Overall, the future of crosschain technologies seems promising and full of innovation. They promise not only to improve existing blockchain systems, but also to open up new opportunities to create more integrated, efficient and smart digital solutions in a wide range of areas.

The post The Future of Crosschain Technology: New Horizons for Blockchain Integration appeared first on Graph Block.

One of the main components of crosschain technologies is the creation of blockchain bridges. These bridges act as links between different blockchains, allowing the transfer of assets and data from one network to another. Bridges can be centralized, where they are managed by a single organization or group, or decentralized, where control is distributed among multiple participants.

Another important technology is the atomic swap, which allows two parties to exchange different cryptocurrencies directly, without the need to involve third parties or centralized exchange platforms. Atomic swaps ensure the safety and security of the exchange by ensuring that transactions are only executed if all the terms of the transaction are met by both parties.

Crosschain technologies also make extensive use of different types of agreements and protocols, such as messaging agreements and consensus protocols. These solutions allow information to be exchanged and data to be kept consistent across different blockchains, which is critical to maintaining the integrity and security of crosschain transactions.

Additionally, crosschain technologies have seen the use of advanced cryptographic techniques, including hashing and digital signatures, which ensure the safety and security of transactions. These techniques help to ensure that transactions cannot be altered or tampered with once they are executed.

In conclusion, the technologies underlying crosschain are a complex combination of cryptographic techniques, data exchange protocols and consensus mechanisms. They aim to create a more flexible, scalable and interconnected blockchain ecosystem that can enable the seamless exchange of assets and information between different blockchain networks.

The post Technologies Underlying Crosschain appeared first on Graph Block.

A crosschain, unlike a traditional blockchain, is not a separate network. Rather, it is a concept or technology designed to enable interoperability between different blockchains. Crosschain solutions seek to overcome the isolation limitations inherent in traditional blockchains by allowing assets and data to move and interact between different blockchain networks. In this way, crosschain technologies open new horizons for blockchains, extending their functionality beyond their own ecosystems.

The difference between blockchain and crosschain is also evident in their approaches to data processing and management. While blockchains are limited to their own data and rules, crosschain solutions offer a more flexible and integrated approach, allowing different blockchains to interact, share data and create collaborative ecosystems. This not only increases the potential for blockchain technologies to be used across sectors, but also highlights their potential to create global, cross-operable networks.

While blockchain remains the foundation for creating distributed, reliable and secure digital registries, crosschain represents the next step in the evolution of blockchain technology, offering the means to interconnect and integrate diverse blockchain systems into a single network.

The post How is Blockchain Different from Crosschain? appeared first on Graph Block.

Sharding is a database scaling technology, the basic idea of which is to break the database into separate segments, each of which can be placed on a separate server.

Applying this technology to blockchain, sharding is the division of the network into separate sectors. Each sector (shard) contains a unique set of smart contracts and account balances, and each shard is assigned certain nodes in the network. These nodes are responsible for verifying transactions in that shard only, not all transactions on the blockchain.

What problems sharding solves

The more popular a project becomes, the more users it attracts, and they, in turn, conduct a lot of transactions, launch dApps and other processes on the network. As a result, the speed of transactions drops, commissions grow, and all this becomes an obstacle for the expansion and development of the project in the future. Dividing the network into shards (also called shards) allows you to increase the capacity of the blockchain and thus solve this problem.

When a group of nodes is responsible for a specific segment of the registry, each node in the network no longer needs to maintain the entire blockchain to perform each transaction. Transaction validation is performed in parallel rather than linearly, which increases network throughput. As a result, the scaling problem disappears.

In addition, in blockchains that utilize sharding, due to load reduction, nodes run more efficiently without increasing computational power.

How it all works

Blockchains are made up of thousands of computers, whose computing power enables distributed registries to function: conducting transactions, executing smart contracts, deploying dApps, etc.
If the network functions on the basis of sequential execution, each node must process each transaction. Therefore, verification of transactions takes quite a long time. For example, Ethereum processes about 10 transactions/sec.

Adding nodes to a blockchain does not mean that its performance will increase. It just means that the verification chain will become longer.

The essence of sharding is to abandon the linear execution model in favor of a parallel one, in which shards do only certain calculations and process a large number of transactions simultaneously. Such blockchains in the blockchain, all information from which is transferred to the main blockchain, but already in a reduced form.

Minuses of sharding

The main problems of sharding are two: communication between shards and security.

Communication.If we divide the network into isolated shards, each shard will essentially become a separate blockchain. Users and decentralized applications of one shard will only be able to communicate with users and applications of another using a special communication protocol.
Security. In a segmented network, it is much easier to take full control of a single shard, as it requires much less hash rate than taking over an unallocated network. For example, a 51% attack on a Bitcoin network would require billions of dollars in hardware and hundreds of millions of dollars a day in electricity.Expensive, unprofitable, unfeasible.Taking over a single shard, on the other hand, is much cheaper and easier.

Which networks are already using sharding

The first network to implement sharding is Zilliqa. It positions itself as a blockchain platform that aims to use segmentation to solve scalability problems.In its testnet phase, it was able to achieve a figure of 2,828 transactions/sec.

The Near blockchain ecosystem calls itself a “sharded blockchain on PoS” and claims that their sharding technology enables nodes to stay small enough to use a low-performance device to operate.
Ethereum is also looking to implement sharding technology. Other sharding networks include Cardano, QuarkChain, and PChain, among others.

Bottom line

In theory, sharding technology could finally solve the blockchain trilemma – if it overcomes the challenges it faces.

Blockchains could then be scaled without sacrificing decentralization or security.

The post What is Sharding and How It Works appeared first on Graph Block.

The reader is probably wondering why an ordinary user needs such a tool as a graph, if he is familiar with the basics of cryptocurrencies and knows that public blockchains are publicly available and the movement of his funds can be viewed in such observers as blockchain.com, etherscan.io and other similar programs.

Yes, it is true that the functionality of the observers allows you to understand the movement of funds, but this is true if it is a direct chain of links that goes from one address to another. If funds are distributed to several addresses in the course of movement and there is a need to track each branch, and if such chains and branches appear in the process of research constantly and in addition have a length of 50 or more knees – in this case you cannot do without visualization of these links.

Transaction graph analysis allows to obtain information about the connection of certain addresses with each other and track the movement of funds. At the same time, it provides “new knowledge” (additional information) to a private researcher, who, unlike law enforcement officers, has no opportunity to send a request to an exchange or exchange service to disclose information about the affiliation of accounts.

What makes a link graph convenient for an analyst:

• Visual representation of long and complicated chains of links that are difficult to keep in your head;
• Quickly establishing the input and output paths to/from a researched address, as well as its known connections, using address markup;
• Determining whether participants in the events under investigation used “dirty funds”, giving us the potential possibility that these funds may have been blocked on centralized exchanges;
• Clearly identifying heuristics between addresses and determining from them the paths of funds and whether groups of addresses belong to the same owner;
• Search for recurring patterns of funds flow in a graph in one or more studies to disseminate patterns and data about possible addresses belonging to a single beneficiary.

All these advantages will allow an analyst to quickly and efficiently solve the task of analyzing addresses in blockchain networks, conduct a cryptocurrency investigation and come to conclusions for further step

The post Graph as an Analyst’s Tool appeared first on Graph Block.

Legal compliance

Blockchain analytics software helps virtual asset service providers ensure legal compliance of their business by implementing tools for risk mitigation and blockchain monitoring. For example, a cryptocurrency exchange may not want criminals using its services for money laundering or other illegal activities. Blockchain analytics tools track every transaction relevant to your business and analyze the risks associated with those transactions. You can also set different rules and standards to meet current regulatory requirements depending on the jurisdiction.

Surveillance and Investigations

Blockchain analytics software plays a crucial role in criminal investigations related to cryptocurrencies. It allows law enforcement agencies to track the movement of funds and identify criminals. For example, a criminal uses some service to convert crypto assets into fiat money. With the help of blockchain analysis tools, the crypto service used can be identified and if it implements a strict KYC policy, it will make it possible to identify the real criminal. Blockchain analysis companies also provide powerful visualization tools for manually guided research and implement various clustering algorithms to identify crypto services.

The post Applications and Benefits of Blockchain Analytics appeared first on Graph Block.