Mina Protocol is a “simple blockchain” designed to reduce processing requirements so that DApps can run more quickly. Mina has been dubbed the world’s lightest blockchain due to its ability to maintain its size despite increased usage. In addition, it maintains a balance between security and decentralization. In October 2020, the project was renamed Mina from Coda Protocol.
Check out an in-depth look of Mina Protocol to discover more about the project.
The Mina network is merely 22 KB in size, a blip on the radar when compared to Bitcoin’s 300 GB blockchain.
What is the main goal of the Mina Protocol?
Mina is working on a distributed payment mechanism that allows users to verify the platform natively directly from the genesis block. This is referred to as a “succinct blockchain” in the technical whitepaper.
The protocol employs zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge), a cryptographic proof that allows someone to authenticate data without disclosing it. In a big network, however, allowing a user to track the platform back to its genesis block can be impossible. As a result, Mina progressively computes SNARKS that focus just on the most recent blocks, allowing end-users to validate that zk-SNARK-compressed proof rather than the whole transaction history of a block.
The MINA native money, which serves as a utility coin and medium of exchange, lies at the heart of the Mina protocol.
How Does the Mina Work?
Mina is comparable to Bitcoin in terms of transaction processing, but it also uses the Ethereum account mechanism.
The distinction between Bitcoin and Ethereum in this regard is that the Bitcoin blockchain’s state is made up of account balances, whereas Ethereum’s state is made up of unspent currencies.
Mina, on the other hand, ensures that each block commits to the state using a prover (or snarker, as the case may be).
Mina uses the Ouroboros Samasika, a PoS technique that offers bootstrapping from a genesis block and is specifically suited for succinct decentralized networks.
In a nutshell, blockchains have two functions: verify and update. Consensus, blockchain summary, and blocks are all touched by verification, while the update function interacts with consensus and chain summary.
Apart from the aforementioned implementations, the project employs a parallel scan state to improve transaction processing speed, which groups untested blocks and assigns the process to parallel provers.
Participants in the Mina Protocol
Mina aims to transform the present blockchain ecosystem, in which most platforms need third-party verifiers like miners/stakers and light clients to validate transactions.
Mina adopts a new method by including a large number of participants, each of whom is responsible for a certain role on the decentralized network.
Verifiers, block producers, and snarkers are the three main jobs.
Verifiers interact with zk-SNARKS, which are responsible for confirming the consensus information. Each Mina protocol user is deemed a verifier if their equipment can manage a 22 KB chain and can process it in a few milliseconds.
