Author: Mark Friedenbach 2013-05-21 04:00:44
Published on: 2013-05-21T04:00:44+00:00
In this email conversation between Jeff Garzik and Mark Friedenbach, the topic of identifying chains/coins using UUIDs is discussed. Friedenbach suggests using Version 4 (random) UUIDs with the random bits extracted from the double-SHA256 hash of the genesis block of the chain to remain compliant with RFC 4122. However, Garzik proposes a double-SHA256 Version 6 as it is more applicable for identifying chains/coins. He gives examples of chain identifiers for mainnet, testnet3, and namecoin. Garzik states that humans will want a side-by-side mapping to make it readable and usable to them despite this proposal wishing to avoid it. The proposal wishes to differentiate the UI identifying the network/coin to the user from the matching of the protocol-supplied value to the underlying network/coin by the client/daemon. He adds that self-validating reference to the blockchain is preferable for the latter. Friedenbach explains his upcoming colored coin architecture that allows issuance of new coins for a fee using a special category of transaction. The hash of that issuing transaction would then be used to generate a UUID identifying the asset for the payment protocol and other purposes as well. He expects many such coins to be issued as they can represent individual loans or lines of credit. In this context, any colored-coin aware client could scan the blockchain to discover the UUID -> coin mapping with absolute certainty. However, the mechanism for mapping text to a specific coin is not clear, and using some sort of DNS-resolution system adds huge external dependencies. Using an identifier derived from blockchain data directly and carrying out optional UI mappings like UUID(...) -> "mtgoxUSD" at a higher level is much better, according to him.
Updated on: 2023-06-06T17:39:49.121646+00:00