Comparing Mechanisms

Each of the previously discussed verification mechanisms (native, external, optimistic) has its benefits and costs. As the famous economist, Thomas Sowell, once said:

“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.”

Therefore, there is no best solution for all use cases, rather trade-offs that must be made by the application developer deciding to use the messaging system. In this section, we will present a simplified exploration of the trade-off space.

Comparison of Mechanisms

Verification Mechanism	Trust Assumption	Security	Extensibility / Reusability	Cost
Light Client Relay	Untrusted with synchrony assumptions	Very High	Low	High
Optimistic	Honest 1-of-n	High	High	Medium
Validator / PoS	Honest k-of-n with social slashing	Medium	High	Medium
Multi-signature Addresses	Honest k-of-n	Low	Very High	Low