Dichotomy Between Tangle and Blockchain: Uncovering their Distinctives

Hey there! It's all about the Tangle and Blockchain showdown! Let's dive right into it. Ever since Satoshi Nakamoto dropped his Bitcoin whitepaper, blockchain tech has been stealing the limelight, and for good reason. As we're cruising through 2022, this tech is literally everywhere. But with great power comes great problems, like low scalability. While lots of folks have been tinkering with new consensus algorithms to speed up transaction recording, the catch is usually security and/or decentralization suffers.

Now, you might have heard about this alternative – Tangle. But does it truly give blockchain a run for its money in the Tangle vs. blockchain battle? Let's find out!

Blockchain 101

In case you've forgotten what blockchain is or how it works, let me give you a quick refresher. Imagine it as a digital ledger that stores all transactions within its network, secured by cryptography. Basically, each time some new transactions happen, a new block is created and added to the system, linked after the previously created blocks. You got it – that's a blockchain, and it's a chain of digital blocks!

Every single block has a unique link to the previous block, which helps keep a complete history of all transactions. All these transactions are verified by some nodes on the network (called miners on proof-of-work chains like Bitcoin). Once the transaction is verified, a block is created and added to the chain. Cool, right?

Blockchain's Best Bits

Security: Blockchains are super secure – data can't be modified or deleted once it's in the system, even if someone tries to tamper with the blocks.
Decentralization: You don't need to trust a single entity to ensure your transaction has gone through, 'cause there's no entity governing and maintaining the blockchain!
Immutability: Data entered in the blockchain is permanent, so it can't be edited or tampered with.

Blockchain's Worst Bits

Speed: Security comes at a cost of slower transaction speeds, and that's a huge issue with blockchains.
Scalability: As the blockchain grows with each transaction, each node has to maintain a copy of the blockchain, which can make it hard for it to scale.
Energy Consumption: Although we're moving towards energy-efficient consensus algorithms, proof-of-work (PoW) systems eat a ton of energy.

Welcome to Tangle!

Tangle, just like blockchain, creates a decentralized, trustless environment for recording transactions. Instead of a straight line of chains like blockchain, Tangle uses a 'directed acyclic graph' (DAG).

Tangle is all about supporting the Internet of Things (IoT) – interrelated devices can communicate and operate without human/computer intervention. No miners needed here, so transactions are speedier and cheaper!

Tangle's Upsides

Miners Missing: Since miners aren't necessary, no network fees or rewards are required. Faster transactions, hallejuah!
Scalability: Tangle is flexible and scalable. The data is broken down into small units, making it easy to handle even microtransactions.
IoT Support: If your use case involves devices interacting and communicating without human/computer involvement, Tangle is the way to go!

Tangle's Downsides

Security: Tangle isn't as secure as a blockchain network since, unlike blockchains, only 34% of malicious nodes can take over the Tangle network.
Centralization: Tangle uses a central coordinator node to ensure the validity of transactions, making it a tad more centralized.
DApp Support: While it's possible to create decentralized applications within the blockchain, Tangle doesn't offer any such support.

The Battle: Tangle vs. Blockchain

Although Tangle and blockchain have the same goal – creating a trustless network for recording transactions – they take different routes to achieve it. Let's check out the differences that fuel the Tangle vs. blockchain debate.

1. Structure

Blockchain is made up of linear, connected data blocks. Tangle, on the other hand, is a bunch of data chains intertwined (or "tangled"). In Tangle, for a transaction to happen, verification of the two previous transactions is enough.

2. Security

In the security race, blockchain powers on with its immutability and superior security. It requires over 50% of the nodes to go rogue to launch an attack, making it tougher for a hack. Tangle, however, can be conquered with just 34% of malicious nodes.

3. Decentralization

Blockchain is 100% decentralized, while Tangle is more centralized through its central coordinator node.

What Data Structure Does Tangle Need?

Details on that? Recap time: The data structure Tangle relies on is – ta-dah! – a directed acyclic graph (DAG)! Different from blockchain, Tangle doesn't save data linearly. Picture a tree with branches intertwined – that's what a DAG looks like. Past transactions can't be used in DAG to verify current or future transactions. Instead, each new transaction validates two previous transactions, making it quick on its feet.

Blockchain Tech Use Cases

Apart from money transfer, here are some cool blockchain use cases:

Non-fungible tokens
Decentralized applications
Logistics
Banking and finance
Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
Insurance

We've dived deep into these use cases in our previous post titled "What are the Benefits of Blockchain."

Tangle Tech vs. Blockchain: Verdict

In conclusion, Tangle is an interesting take on solving blockchain's speed issues, but it does so at the cost of security and decentralization. If you want to create a DApp powered by a cryptocurrency, Tangle can't do the job yet. But if your goal is to create a series of interconnected devices that communicate seamlessly without fees, Tangle's the ticket!

So, that wraps up the blockchain vs. Tangle debate. Happy reading, and don't forget to hit us up on our social channels with any questions!

Dichotomy Between Tangle and Blockchain: Uncovering their Distinctives

Dichotomy Between Tangle and Blockchain: Uncovering their Distinctives