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Yep, git is essentially a blockchain. NFTs but also all cryptocurrency transactions are essentially git commits containing a digital signature from the owner (t
by GuB-42 3y ago
Yep, git is essentially a blockchain. NFTs but also all cryptocurrency transactions are essentially git commits containing a digital signature from the owner (to prove ownership), what the owner is transacting, and the public key of the receiver. Sometimes it is a bit more complicated, there may be some instructions others than "I am A, send the X to B", but that's the idea.
The big difference between git and a blockchain like Bitcoin and Ethereum is how you do "pull requests". On git, usually, there is a designated central repository that is controlled by project maintainers, and when you submit a pull request, they check it, merge it to central, and others get it back from here.
With blockchains, there is no designated central repository, to merge a pull request, you have to win a sort of lottery, commonly by reversing a crypto hash (mining). The more invested you are into the system, the higher the odds. If you win, you show it to the the world, do the merge, and everyone pulls from you. By randomly selecting who does the pull among the most invested limits the chance of one bad actor ruining the system for everyone. In case of a conflict, the branch with the most commits wins, because that's the one with the most "lottery winners" and therefore the most likely to be the right one. To encourage others to merge that pull request, there is usually a reward for those who do (transaction fees).
Technically, it is very sound, just like git is, in a sense. The "proof-of-work" lottery is wasteful in electricity though, and of course, what you do with it is another matter. Just like git can be used for good (ex: linux) or for bad (ex: developing malware).