DFINITY is a new kind of public decentralized cloud computing network that is powered by a novel form of digital randomness. The randomness is produced by a decentralized network of computers, and it is used to generate an unpredictable outcome that can be used to select the next block in the DFINITY blockchain.
This type of randomness is not possible with traditional blockchains, such as Ethereum, which rely on proof-of-work (POW) to produce their random numbers. POW is a process where miners compete to find the next block by solving a complex mathematical puzzle.
The first miner to find the solution gets to add the next block to the blockchain and receives a reward in the form of newly minted coins.
While POW is a secure way to produce random numbers, it has several drawbacks. First, it is slow and energy intensive.
Second, it creates a large financial incentive for miners to join forces and form mining pools, which centralizes power within the network.
DFINITY addresses these issues by using what is called “threshold relay” to generate its random numbers. In threshold relay, instead of one miner being responsible for finding the next block, the task is divided up among many different computers in the network.
These computers work together to find what is called a “chain commit” – a digital signature that represents the most recent state of the DFINITY blockchain.
The chain commit is generated by taking all of the transactions that have been broadcasted to the network and hashing them together. This hash is then divided up into pieces and distributed among the computers in the network.
Each computer then signs its piece of the chain commit with its private key.
Once enough computers have signed their piece of the chain commit, it can be broadcasted to the rest of the network. This process ensures that only valid transactions are included in the chain commit and that no single entity has too much power over the network.
The DFINITY network also uses what are called “notaries” to help keep track of all of the different versions of the blockchain that are being generated by different computers in the network. Notaries are special nodes that keep track of which version of the blockchain has been accepted by more than half of the computers in the network (known as “supermajority”).
If a computer tries to add a new block to a blockchain that does not have supermajority consensus, then that block will be rejected by the notaries and will not be added to the DFINITY blockchain. This helps ensure that all changes to the DFINITY blockchain are made with consensus from majority of users on the network.
So how exactly is DFINITY different from Ethereum? Well, there are several key ways:
Ethereum uses POW to generate its random numbers, while DFINITY uses threshold relay; Ethereum relies on miners to add new blocks to its blockchain, while DFINITY uses a decentralized network of computers; Ethereum has a single global blockchain, while DFINITY has multiple parallel chains; Ethereum allows for smart contracts and decentralized applications (dapps) to be built on top of its platform, while DFINITY focuses on providing a scalable platform for enterprise applications; and finally, Ethereum plans to move from POW to proof-of-stake (POS) at some point in the future, while DFINITY plans to stay with threshold relay indefinitely.