The Metanet explained in detail; flags put up for a vote
Derek Tonin
We've known for some time now the surface level details of the Bitcoin SV (BSV) powered Metanet, but intricate details of how it worked have been kept under cover. With the recent CoinGeek Toronto scaling conference featuring a talk on its inner workings, and now a release of two detailed documents by nChain, we know more about how the blockchain powered replacement for the internet will work for businesses, and the nChain team have put the Metanet flag options up for a vote.
Jack Davies' CoinGeek Toronto developer day presentation on the Metanet revealed quite a lot about the inner workings of how the protocol works, and use cases it creates for enterprises. In it, he broke down four aspects of the protocol, including node and edge structures, Metanet valid transactions, data-insertion methods, and how the graph can be interpreted for domains, naming and locating.
Of the projects currently working on the Metanet, Davies pointed out how they all use the Metanet as their server, use the blockchain to host their content, allow contributions from the community, and allow for greater specialization in the way they use the blockchain.
A simplified explanation for how all this works goes like this: The BSV blockchain allows for data storage on chain, which search engines, applications and websites can then query from for their use cases. Because transaction structures can be specified, read and write permission can be easily controlled and allow for any manner of new application. Davies goes on to explain exactly how this works in a detailed way, but that's the basics of it.
The use cases for this are already powerful. Institutions can use this structure to encrypt and safe-guard data while still allowing transparency for information that needs to be shared openly. Social media can use the BSV blockchain to build platforms on, where users can share content and interact with each other, with identities supported by referencing those previously mentioned institutions. As a result, it's incredibly simple for a social media platform to safeguard itself against bad actors, fake news, and guarantee the interactions their users have online are with legitimate, verified users.
To further explain how the Metanet works, nChain have rolled out a detailed document to explain everything, along with Davies presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint format. They've also announced a 24-hour Twitter poll to help decide the Metanet flag. What is a Metanet flag? They explain:
"A 4-byte umbrella prefix to be used in every Metanet transaction. This flag signifies that a transaction is to be considered a part of the Metanet graph. All other related sub-protocols can be encompassed by the Metanet flag."
The options the community now had to vote on for the Metanet flag were: META, MTNT, METN and MNET.
After 24 hours, it appears META is the public favorite with 56% of the vote.
With these detailed documents, businesses that are interested in building their future on the blockchain can get their developers to start reading up on how they can easily build new applications powered by BSV. It's a worthwhile endeavor considering it provides all the security they could ask for, removes the cost of data centers from the equation, and easily incorporates a blockchain host system with the most powerful digital currency transaction system in the world.
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