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.
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 |
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