Apr 3, 2021
Stacks and the Promise of a New Age of the Internet
Stacks, or formerly known as Blockstack, is an ecosystem that brings decentralized apps and smart contracts to Bitcoin. The project aims to change the face of the internet by utilizing Bitcoin’s blockchain to secure user privacy and to decrease the power giant corporations hold over the internet, essentially transferring the control to the end-users.
The Origins of Stacks and Its Purpose
Co-founded by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea in 2013 at Princeton University, Stacks is envisioned as a project that will facilitate to revolutionize the internet, to construct a new internet architecture that prioritizes privacy, trust and decentralization. In the abstract of his thesis Trust-to-Trust Design of a New Internet, Ali addresses the shortcomings of the current internet and proposes Blockstack to redeem them as follows:
. . . There are several central points of trust and failure on the traditional internet. These include root servers for the Domain Name System (DNS) and public-key infrastructure like Certificate Authorities (CAs) that publish security certificates. Further, the success of cloud hosted services in the last decade means that most user data is stored on remote servers and end-users need to trust these remote servers for correct execution of their applications.
. . . [W]e present a new internet architecture that explicitly follows the trust-to-trust design principle, i.e., end-users don’t need to trust the core of the network for anything, and end-users can use applications and services in a fully decentralized way. We make the observation that cryptocurrency blockchains, like Bitcoin, can be used to bootstrap trust for new nodes joining a network.
. . . We present the implementation of a new decentralized internet, called Blockstack, that takes the trust-to-trust architecture from a theoretical concept to a production system. [1]
Bitcoin is essential for this endeavour, as it is among the oldest and most reliable blockchains and provides the necessary trust and security that Stacks require [2]. However, it also has its shortcomings and limitations such as storage limits, slow transaction speeds, or limited bandwidth. Bitcoin is designed to be simplistic and unchanging, while Stacks requires extended capabilities to function in order to achieve its desired outcome. Stacks blockchain resolves these shortcomings by extending Bitcoin’s limitations through novel innovations and brand new approaches to how the blockchain functions.
Proof-of-Transfer, Clarity and Other Services
Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) is the new consensus mechanism used by Stacks blockchain. It is comprised of two parts: Mining and Stacking. PoX allows miners to send Bitcoins to the Stacks network in return for the chance of leading a block to mine Stacks tokens (STX), Stacks’ native cryptocurrency. On the other hand, Stacking allocates these Bitcoins to qualified STX holders. In order to qualify, STX holders are required to lock up a certain amount of their tokens for a period of time [2].
Stacks also utilizes a new language called Clarity to bring smart contracts to Bitcoin. It is an open-source project that allows developers to build complex smart contracts safely. Clarity’s precise, secure and non-compiled qualities allow the user to understand what the programs do just by looking at the code. Furthermore, the source code is published in the blockchain. With PoX and Clarity, Stacks eliminates the limitations of blockchain and preserves both flexibility and security [2].
Further functionality is provided by additional services; Connect provides authentication without relying on third parties or remote servers [2], and Gaia is a decentralized storage architecture that supply data storage outside the blockchain without introducing central trust parties [3]. On the other hand, Blockstack Naming Service (BNS) provides a decentralized naming service, allowing users to name their digital assets and register them on the blockchain. Unlike DNS, BNS names are globally unique and they are owned by a public-private key pair which eliminates the issue of trusting intermediaries for the ownership of the name [2].
What Does This Mean for the Future of the Internet?
As we know, the internet is owned and controlled by capitalist states and enormous corporations that do not care about user rights, privacy, and security. Everything we do on the internet is theirs. However, coupled with the power of PoX and Clarity language, Stacks blockchain brings the promise of a new internet that will deliver the internet to the users, decentralizing it, and in turn, bettering it for everyone. Based on the most proven and secure blockchain, Bitcoin, Stacks’ enhanced mechanisms and services allow data to be stored remotely without relying on central parties while also preserving user privacy and security, essentially cutting out the middlemen. As the project continues to evolve and improve and new functionalities are being implemented, we are slowly transitioning to a new internet that is owned and controlled solely by users. Blockchain technology has not only revolutionized our economy but is also changing our relationship with the internet, delivering us total digital ownership and freedom.
References
[1] M. Ali, Trust-to-Trust Design of a New Internet, https://muneebali.com/thesis
[2] Stacks brings apps and smart contracts to Bitcoin, Stacks Brief, https://paper.dropbox.com/published/stacksblue-Stacks-Brief-JOEqkfUQsrhINkQyCyBc5cK
[3] Decentralized storage architecture for off-chain data, Gaia, https://docs.blockstack.org/build-apps/references/gaia
