Blockchain evolution
Blockchain 1.0 is what Nakamoto developed. The main achievement of blockchain 1.0 is the solution to the problem of double-spending without the presence of intermediaries in the scheme (for example, banks). A true P2P payment system parasitic on the Internet. No servers - a way was found with a significant degree of security to exchange electronic payments directly between the "wallets". A paradise for anonymous.
Blockchain 2.0 - or Ethereum smart contracts. The main achievement of blockchain 2.0 is the ability to use a distributed blockchain registry to solve various applications, the word “distributed blockchain registry” can be replaced by the word “distributed cloud-computer power” - the meaning will not change. On the open-source ethereum, the vast majority of altcoins appeared. So "viola" was born, parasitizing on ethereum, which in turn parasitizes on the cue ball, which in turn parasitizes on the Internet. And yet, Ethereum gave birth to such a profession as “blockchain-developer”, “blockchain-programmer”, “blockchain-add your word”.
The bottleneck of the first and second-generation blockchain is the problem of scalability. The fact is that both Bitcoin and Ethereum, in their activities, are based on a distributed registry system, which without tangible risks of hacking tells us what, to whom and in what volumes it belongs. This system functions when certain computing powers duplicate blockchain information and create new blocks for introducing new information into it (well, or process smart contracts in the case of Ethereum). When the tasks facing the blockchain are quite simple, then everything works well, but as soon as we increase the quantity and quality of the tasks to be solved, it starts to “slow down”. This is the “scalability problem”. The cue ball network on average processes 7-8 transactions per second, Ethereum - 14-16 transactions. This is weak for the global application of these blockchains - the speed is small, transactions are expensive (payment of nodes and miners exists) = total, the use of the entire system for microtransactions is unacceptable.
Blockchain 3.0 is the answer of developers to the problem of scalability. By the way, LN (Lightning Network) is Bitcoin’s attempt to jump from Blockchain 1.0 to Blockchain 3.0. And, even though various “third-generation” blockchain projects solve the scalability problem in different ways, the main leitmotif is to develop blockchain technology in such a way that it is applicable in real life, and the emphasis is on its speed without compromising on quality and security. Lightning Network, for example, pulls out small transactions in the so-called Off-chain. Off-chain is when a small group of wallets exchanges small transactions, and all their movements are not recorded in the main and clumsy blockchain cue ball. These guys create their LN-wallets, freeze the deposit of such a wallet on the main blockchain, and can exchange cues quite quickly between other similar LN-wallets, bypassing the record in the main blockchain of the cue ball with each transaction - the record in the main blockchain takes place periodically, fixing a kind "The overall result of all transactions in the Off-chain."
Summing up, we can say that Blockchain 3.0 is an experimental field with the ultimate goal of determining which technologies will be more effective for solving various global problems.
Blockchain 4.0+ is marketing. Blockchain still has not come up with a final solution to scalability to tackle new problems and get a new “number”. Projects such as Seele or TON use this move to highlight their exclusivity.
