Published on: 2022-06-15T04:02:38+00:00
The concept of consensus in Bitcoin involves trust, which is measured using a mechanism called Trust Metric. The Ford Fulkerson Max Flow Algorithm is used to convert an unordered graph of "Trust Declarations" into a Directed Acyclic Graph with weighting to prevent faults. Sybil resistance is achieved by linking pseudo-identities to trusted individuals and requiring a minimum number of Trust Declarations. However, attackers can still pose as trustworthy individuals. Negative Certs were considered but not implemented due to potential harm.Maintaining the system requires discipline and does not incentivize people without risking bribery. Getting people to pay BTC to make declarations of trust is difficult. There was a discussion about whether developers are paid enough in BTC to afford making declarations, and the idea of separating the Declaration from the payment threshold was proposed. This would allow anyone to enter a zero-value transaction with a Declaration of Trust, but independent post-processing would determine inclusion in the Graph Processing.Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton suggests that trust metrics could address misinformation undermining Bitcoin. Trust metrics are similar to the Bitcoin protocol and could benefit the ecosystem. Trust metrics quantify who's trusted among a set of people and can be used to answer questions about Bitcoin. Public declarations of trust and Maximum-Flow Graph analysis help filter out spam. Colluding users farming aliases can game trust metrics, but Sybil resistance can be bolstered by charging fees or requiring proof of funds. Adding trust metrics evaluation to the Bitcoin protocol would help developers evaluate whom to trust for protocol development.AliceXBT discusses misinformation being used to undermine Bitcoin and suggests Trust Metrics as a solution. She mentions advogato.org as a successful experiment in this regard. Public declarations of trust and Maximum-Flow Graph analysis help filter out false information. AliceXBT finds it ironic that trust metric evaluation was not added to the Bitcoin protocol from the start, hindering developers' ability to evaluate whom to trust for protocol development.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T06:44:20.506979+00:00