Px/Pi for Peer-to-Peer Networks: A Call for Simplicity and Security
My own vision for peer-to-peer (P2P) networks is relatively straightforward: a flat structure with low entry barriers for miners, secured by distributed energy, robust client-based tools, and ultralight, portable servers.
We need to focus on Satergo with apps as plugins.
On some level, we have peers, users, and speculators, each with their own intent and agenda.
Building for just users is a security problem. We may need to focus on the peer experience and educate speculators and users on why such things matter. Unfortunately, many will learn through pain, as tends to be human nature. However, offering more secure alternatives with competing Ux/Ui without security tradeoffs is a good long-term goal.
Unfortunately, most mainstream blockchain technology is increasingly diverging from this idea and chasing users.
The blockchain community is currently preoccupied with abstracting chains and focusing on user experience. While user-centric design is essential, it introduces potential issues with trust and intermediaries. The necessity for seamless user interfaces and experiences often leads to excessive server hopping, which can undermine security.
Presently, user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) are riddled with trust touchpoints that are often overlooked. More attention needs to be paid to the security implications of DApp websites potentially logging IP addresses, tracking activity, and collecting private information. Similarly, web wallets carry their own trust assumptions and vulnerabilities, including an ever-growing threat of malicious links, malware, and data collection risks.
This server hopping should be viewed negatively as it compromises privacy and security, eroding the purpose of a peer-to-peer network.
Instead, a better alternative for us is to build around NiPoPoWs (an ultralight server that allows users to sync quickly and initiate direct P2P communication). This setup enables users to build and submit transactions locally without relying on external servers. NiPoPoWs are something special that we have not leveraged yet in Ergo to provide better local assumptions.
Focus on aUI/UX that emphasizes security by maintaining a low position within a flat network is crucial long term. The security surface can be minimized by developing an interface and sandbox around the node. Users would only need to trust the app platform and sandbox rather than an ever-growing list of interfaces, which become riskier as the ecosystem scales. From a security-first perspective, I think we need to consider this more long-term.
It also encourages nodes in the network, which is beneficial in an of itself.
It would be nice to prioritize building tools for peers who prefer to avoid server hopping. Users who choose to server-hop can still have their tools and Ui/Ux. Hopefully, they are not blind to the risks.
Running your own server and becoming your own node is essential for best security practices.
Staying low within the network ensures greater security and aligns with the original vision of peer-to-peer networks. Decentralization, to me, has always been about shifting power locally. The main security risk will become you, the peer.
It's wild to see how the ability to build or submit a transaction, audit the transaction, and interact with the chain has become more or less a complex web of intermediaries in different networks. We call this series of server hops Web 3. Move away from local power and abstract tradeoffs away and market it as some new thing.
Sometimes, the quickest way to eradicate a disease is just that: change the name and marketing.
Building to minimize external touchpoints and security tradeoffs is hard, but it is the best way to build a truly resilient ecosystem.
Ultimately, build and do what you want; I propose a vision of what I enjoy thinking about the most and invite people to consider the possibilities.
I have asked Satergo to consider this path forward, will support this as a goal, and hope to see some community developer engagement around this basic concept.
It differs from most community's Ui/Ux approach, but I don't see how the focus is on security and peer experience in a flat network. It chases users and gives them the same tradeoffs we see in Web 2.
On Ergo, we can leverage what we have built and offer something better. In the end, it’s security and permissionless open systems that have made the space generally interesting. Without preserving this, we revert to some weird mix of tradeoffs that probably aren't much better or even worse than legacy systems.
