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Emin Gün Sirer is the founder of Avalanche, also known as "Professor Gun".
In this podcast, Emin explains Avalanche's multi-chain architecture, consensus algorithm, and virtual machine design in detail, emphasizing its flexibility and scalability. He predicts that there will be millions of blockchains or subnets in the future, each with specific uses and rules.
As Star Arena becomes popular and Avalanche Chain is eager for traffic and popularity, what advantages does its technical mechanism have over L2? Has it successfully attracted more users and applications? Where will Avalanche go in the future? Let's listen to the founder's insights and thoughts.
Moderator: Logan Jastremski
Speaker: Emin Gün Sirer, founder of Avalanche protocol
Column: Logan Jastremski Podcast
Original title: Avalanche Founder Emin Gün Sirer on Asia Market & The End State of Millions of Blockchains
Program: Link
Broadcast time: October 7
Outlook and belief in the future of blockchain technology
Emin believes that blockchain technology will no longer be a single, centralized entity or platform. In order to support different applications and business needs, blockchain technology must be flexible and adaptable to different scenarios and needs. Emin believes that there will be millions of blockchains or subnets in the future. In order to realize this future vision, Emin and his team designed the Avalanche consensus protocol.
The Avalanche consensus protocol is an innovative consensus mechanism that is different from the existing PoW (Proof of Work) and PoS (Proof of Stake) mechanisms. Avalanche provides a more efficient and scalable solution that can handle a large number of transactions, support high throughput and low latency, and can meet the needs of millions of blockchains or subnets in the future.
The Avalanche protocol focuses on security and can ensure that the blockchain network can resist various attacks and maintain the integrity and security of data.
Asian blockchain market: eager for tokenization, more active and open
Clear regulatory environment: Emin's experience in Singapore and Hong Kong allowed him to see how strong and active the Asian market is. He noted that unlike the United States, Asian countries have a clearer and more friendly regulatory environment for blockchain and cryptocurrency. In Asia, governments and regulators provide clear guidance and support for blockchain innovation and development, which helps drive the growth and prosperity of the blockchain ecosystem in the region.
Huge demand for tokenization: Emin observed that there is a huge demand for tokenization in the Asian market. Large companies and enterprises are actively exploring the possibilities of blockchain technology and tokenization to drive innovation and increase efficiency. The activity of the Asian market also reflects the region's open attitude and positive acceptance of new technologies and innovations.
Emin cited Avalanche's collaboration with SK Planet in South Korea as an example of the Asian market's positive response to blockchain applications. SK Planet is a large company in South Korea with a large user base. Through Avalanche, SK Planet's loyalty points are tokenized, allowing users to manage and use their points more conveniently and securely, and this collaboration has attracted approximately 35 million Korean users.
The project’s success reflects the trust and acceptance of blockchain technology among Asian consumers and businesses, which are more active and open to blockchain and tokenization than the U.S. market.
The evolution of blockchain technology: from fantasy to maturity
Emin pointed out that blockchain technology in the past was full of technical terms and promises for the future that were often empty and lacked actual execution and realization. Emin believes that this phenomenon is caused by the immaturity of technology and excessive market hype.
As time goes by, the market and users begin to get tired of these empty promises and future fantasies, and people begin to seek blockchain technologies and solutions with practical applications and value. Emin believes that blockchain technology is maturing. The future blockchain will pay more attention to the practicality, reliability and security of technology, rather than empty promises and future fantasies.
Emin predicts that there will not be too many new blockchains in the future, and the market will be more focused on blockchain technologies and platforms that have proven their value and reliability. The market and users will become more rational and sober, and people will pay more attention to the practical application and value of blockchain technology rather than being attracted by unrealistic promises and fantasies. The value of technology will be reflected in the actual benefits and value it can bring to users and enterprises.
Emin pointed out that different blockchain communities vary greatly in the speed of technology development and delivery, with some communities able to quickly deliver innovative and useful technologies, while others perform poorly in this regard. He believes that a clear, focused and innovative community is more likely to quickly deliver valuable technology.
Emin emphasized that technological innovation is a key factor in promoting the development of blockchain technology. Only through continuous innovation can blockchain technology meet the growing market demands and challenges.
Emin particularly emphasized how Avalanche has achieved innovation by solving the most difficult problem of consensus protocol. He believes that consensus protocol is the core of blockchain technology, and solving this problem is the key to promoting the development of blockchain technology. He said that Avalanche has a new perspective and approach to solving problems in distributed systems, which enables Avalanche to develop more efficient and reliable blockchain technology.
Problems with Layer 2 Solutions
Emin believes that when communities and developers face difficulties and do not know how to improve or optimize their Layer 1 blockchains, they usually turn to Layer 2 solutions. He sees Layer 2 as a stopgap measure, not a long-term or fundamental solution.
Emin pointed out that Layer 2 solutions face the same problems and challenges as Layer 1. Although Layer 2 may provide a temporary solution, it does not really solve the fundamental problems or challenges, and it takes time for the market to recognize the limitations and problems of Layer 2. He pointed out that engineers and developers usually realize this earlier because they face and deal with these technical problems and challenges directly.
Emin gave an example that blockchains like Polygon are "reverting" every day, and there will be chain reorganizations or other situations that cause the blockchain state to roll back. Due to this "reversion", Polygon has not achieved the basic value of blockchain - final consistency. Emin believes that if a blockchain cannot keep moving forward, but keeps regressing, then people will not be able to trust and use it. This is because the value of blockchain is largely based on its immutability and reliability.
Shenchao Note: Final consistency is a core feature of blockchain technology, which means that once a transaction is confirmed, it cannot be changed or revoked.
All about the Avalanche consensus algorithm
Emin explained the background of consensus problems in the field of distributed systems. In distributed systems, consensus is critical, ensuring that all nodes in the system can agree on a certain state or value. Emin pointed out that in the past 60 years, there have been only 3 main consensus methods: Proof of Work (PoW), Classical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), and the new method introduced by Avalanche.
Emin explained the limitations of the classic Byzantine fault-tolerant protocol, especially in cases where a lot of communication and signature verification are required, which usually requires a lot of messaging and computing resources, which is not sustainable in large-scale and high-performance systems. Due to these limitations, it faces serious challenges in efficiency and scalability, limiting its application in larger and more complex distributed systems.
Emin highlighted how Avalanche solves these problems by introducing a new consensus method that aims to overcome the limitations of classic BFT protocols and provide greater efficiency and scalability. Avalanche's consensus algorithm reduces communication and computational overhead, enabling it to achieve efficient and reliable consensus in large-scale distributed systems.
Emin emphasized that Avalanche optimizes the consensus algorithm by reducing communication overhead. In many traditional consensus algorithms, a large amount of communication overhead is a major bottleneck that limits the performance and scalability of the system. Avalanche's design reduces the need for communication between nodes, making the system more efficient and scalable. In addition to reducing communication overhead, Avalanche also optimizes the consensus algorithm by implementing probabilistic finality. This probabilistic finality feature enables Avalanche to provide faster transaction confirmation times and improve user experience.
Emin believes that Avalanche is able to handle more validators because Avalanche's consensus algorithm does not rely on all-to-all communication, which reduces the system's communication overhead and allows more validators to participate in the system. This design enables Avalanche to support larger networks while maintaining high performance and low latency.
In Avalanche, nodes do not need to communicate with every other node in the network, which greatly reduces the complexity and overhead of communication. This design improves the efficiency and scalability of the system, allowing Avalanche to operate in larger and more complex environments.
Emin emphasized his desire to see everyone who can run a node participate in Avalanche. He believes that these systems are only as strong as their full decentralization and representation from around the world participating in their consensus protocols.
Avalanche's consensus algorithm is not based on all-to-all communication, but is implemented through repeated sub-sample voting. In this process, each node randomly selects several other nodes and asks them, and then these asked nodes continue to ask other nodes, and so on, thus achieving full coverage of the network.
Because each node only communicates with a handful of other nodes, Avalanche is able to process transactions extremely quickly. Emin mentioned that transactions on Avalanche can be completed in about 700 milliseconds, much faster than other systems.
Emin believes that Solana is also based on an All-to-All communication mechanism, which is limited in scale, while Avalanche is completely free from this limitation.
Shenchao Note: “All-to-All” communication is a mode in which each node needs to communicate with all other nodes.
Emin distinguished between information dissemination and consensus. He believed that information dissemination is to show the content of the block to everyone, while consensus is to reach an agreement on the block. Avalanche's consensus algorithm can be completed quickly while ensuring fair and fast dissemination of information. Avalanche's information dissemination protocol is the fastest in the world.
Emin expressed surprise at the rapid growth of the Avalanche community and its widespread acceptance around the world. The active participation of the developer community, the diversity of applications and projects, and the global influence of Avalanche all exceeded his expectations. These surprises reflect the strong potential of Avalanche and its important position in the blockchain field.
Common Misconceptions About Avalanche
At the end of the podcast, Emin summarized several common misunderstandings people have about Avalanche:
Competition with other blockchains: Avalanche's main competitors are Wall Street and other traditional financial systems, not blockchains like Ethereum.
Ecosystem goals: Avalanche's goal is to tokenize physical assets, thereby changing and optimizing the way traditional finance works.
Misunderstanding of multi-chain architecture: Avalanche is a multi-chain system where each chain can have its own rules and operate independently without being affected by the load of other chains.
Relationship with Ethereum: Emin rejected the idea that Avalanche competes with Ethereum. He believes that Avalanche’s architecture can accommodate other systems, including Ethereum. He foresees that many existing Layer 1 chains will be transformed into Avalanche subnets in the future.
