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Trilemmas

links: AC2 TOC - Anonymity - Index

CAP Theorem

No distributed system can be consistent, available and partition tolerant at the same time.

  • Consistency: A read sees the changes made by all previous writes
  • Availability: Reads and writes always succeed
  • Partition tolerance: The system operates even when network connectivity between components is broken

Blockchain Trilemma

This is a concept in blockchain technology that posits it's impossible to fully achieve all three of the following features at once:

  • Security: the network can resist attacks
  • Scalability: the network can process a high number of transactions
  • Decentralization: all peers in the network are equal, and there are no trusted third parties

Ryge's Trilemma

Ryge's Triangle postulates three key management goals for a system associating cryptographic keys with addresses or names:

  • Non-interactive: the system should require no user interface
  • Flexible: addresses / names can be re-used by other participants
  • Secure: the system is secure against active attackers

Ryge's triangle says that one can only have two of the three.

Zooko's Triangle

This is a trilemma concept in naming systems which argues that names can't be all three of the following:

  • Secure: names honestly represent the identity of the named entity.
  • Decentralized/ Global: no central authority is needed to control name allocation
  • Human-meaningful/ Memorable: names are meaningful and memorable to humans.

links: AC2 TOC - Anonymity - Index