Author: Eric Voskuil 2018-08-29 18:45:56
Published on: 2018-08-29T18:45:56+00:00
In an email discussion, Jonas Schnelli argues that an API that serves non-verifiable data is supporting centralised validation. He believes that the most important property in Bitcoin is the ability to self-validate and this requires access to data available via the peer-to-peer (P2P) network. In response, a correspondent argues that without centralized services there would be no block explorers or secure light wallets. Schnelli suggests that selectively indexing the data is the right choice for those not needing to serve thousands of wallets, and highlights the upcoming BIP158 protocol as allowing privacy-preserving "light clients" without requiring a trusted layer. While he does not advocate against a full-index blockexplorer-like API, he stresses the importance of defining its use case and being aware of consequences and downsides.
Updated on: 2023-06-13T14:15:29.869256+00:00