What is Ethereum Plasma and How It Works

Have you ever heard the term Ethereum Plasma? This technique is present as a solution to the scalability problems faced by Ethereum. Check out a more in-depth explanation here!

Understanding Ethereum Plasma

Joseph Poon and Vitalik Buterin, co-founders of Ethereum, proposed Ethereum Plasma as a scalability solution technique for the Ethereum blockchain in August 2017. Poon, along with Thaddeus Dryja, was also responsible for the conception of the Lightning Network, a scalability solution proposed for Bitcoin in 2015. 

Ethereum Plasma is an off-chain scalability framework or technique for building scalable applications that can be used by various research groups or companies. Even so, Plasma is not a project

How Ethereum Plasma Works

The main focus of Ethereum Plasma is to form a second chain framework that can communicate and interact with the main chain (in this case, the Ethereum blockchain) as much as possible. The framework is organized hierarchically so that many small chains can be placed on top of the main chain. 

Daughter chains and plasma chains are other terms for these small chains. It's important to note that, despite their appearance, Plasma chains and sidechains are not identical.

Plasma Structure uses Merkle trees and smart contracts to create an unlimited number of child chains. These child chains are essentially small copies of the parent Ethereum blockchain. Tree-like structures can be built from additional chains built on top of child chains.

Each Plasma child chain is essentially a customizable smart contract designed to meet various needs. This shows that chains can work together and operate independently. 

Ultimately, Ethereum Plasma will enable organizations to implement solutions that can scale in multiple ways according to their unique context and needs. 

Thus, if Plasma were developed and implemented into the Ethereum network, the main chain would be less likely to get stuck because each child chain would be designed to work in a different way for a specific goal, which is not necessarily related to the main goal.

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Fraud Proof

Because Fraud Proof guarantees communication between the child chain and the root chain, the root chain is responsible for maintaining network security and punishing individuals who commit violations.

Each child chain has mechanisms for implementing fraud proof and validating blocks, which can be created using various consensus algorithms. Proof of Work , Proof of Stake , and Proof of Authority are the most common.

Fraud Proof ensures that users can report dishonest nodes in cases of crime, protect their funds, and exit transactions involving the main chain. In other words, fraud proof is used when a Plasma child chain submits a complaint to its parent or root chain.

Map-Reduce

Additionally, the Plasma whitepaper offers interesting use cases for MapReduce computation. Basically, MapReduce is a collection of operations that are very helpful in calculating and organizing data in various databases.

In the context of Ethereum Plasma, this database is the blockchain, and because its structure is similar to a chain tree, MapReduce can be used to help verify the data in the chain tree, significantly increasing the efficiency of the network.

Mass Exit Problem

Mass Exit issue, which describes a situation where many users try to exit their Plasma chain simultaneously, flooding the root chain and causing network congestion.

This issue is one of the main causes of concern for Ethereum Plasma. Fraudulent behavior, network intrusions, or other significant failures that a Plasma child chain, or collection of chains, may exhibit may cause this.

Conclusion

Essentially, Ethereum Plasma is an off-chain solution that forms a tree structure of multiple small chains to significantly improve the overall performance of the Ethereum network. The main chain, which can process more transactions per second, will have a lighter workload thanks to these chains.

Also read: 

What is Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 and how is it different from Ethereum

What is Ethereum Casper? Why is it Important?

What is Ethereum Cancun and How Does It Influence

Get to know what the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is

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