What is Tangle?
The meaning of Tangle is a distributed ledger technology developed by the IOTA Foundation. It is an open-source, permissionless protocol that enables secure data transfers with no fees and no third-party interference. Tangle uses directed acyclic graph (DAG) architecture to enable direct peer-to-peer interactions between devices in its network. Transactions are approved through a consensus mechanism called "The Coordinator", which serves as a security measure against malicious actors.
Tangle also supports offline transactions, meaning that users can make payments without being connected to the internet. This makes it much more accessible for users who may not have access to reliable internet connections or who want to avoid having their information exposed on public networks. Additionally, Tangle's scalability allows for high throughput, meaning that more transactions can be handled at the same time. This makes it well-suited for use in applications that require fast and reliable payments such as IoT (Internet of Things) networks or micropayments.
Tangle is also resistant to quantum computing attacks, ensuring that data stored on its network remains secure even if a quantum computer is used to try and gain access. This makes Tangle a desirable option for storing sensitive information or any other data that needs to stay safe from malicious actors. Additionally, Tangle is designed with privacy in mind, allowing users to keep their activities hidden from prying eyes. All in all, Tangle provides a secure and reliable platform for conducting digital transactions.
Simplified Example
Tangle is like a web of string connecting different beads, each bead representing a transaction. These strings connect one bead to another and form a web that is difficult to break and hard to tamper with. Each bead contains information about the transaction and it's connected with all the other beads that it confirms. Tangle is a different way of organizing transactions compared to traditional ledgers and it's more efficient and secure.
History of the Term "Tangle"
The term "tangle" found its application in the realm of cryptocurrency, particularly associated with the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) technology developed by the IOTA Foundation. Established in 2015 by David Sønstebø, Sergey Ivancheglo, Dominik Schiener, and Serguei Popov, the IOTA Foundation is a non-profit organization that played a pivotal role in introducing the innovative tangle technology to the cryptocurrency space.
Examples
IOTA: IOTA is a distributed ledger technology that uses a tangle structure to achieve tamper-proofness and scalability. It was designed to support the Internet of Things (IoT) and is well suited for use in machine-to-machine transactions. In IOTA, each node in the network participates in the consensus process by validating two previous transactions before adding its own transaction to the ledger. This creates a web of interdependent transactions that makes it difficult to alter the information stored in the ledger without being detected.
JINN: JINN is a blockchain platform that uses a tangle ledger to achieve tamper-proofness and scalability. It was designed to support smart contract execution and is well suited for use in decentralized applications. JINN uses a consensus algorithm that is designed to be fast, efficient, and secure, making it well suited for use in large, decentralized networks.
Byteball: Byteball is a decentralized platform that uses a tangle ledger to achieve tamper-proofness and scalability. It was designed to support decentralized applications and is well suited for use in secure data storage and secure data transfer. Byteball uses a consensus algorithm that is designed to be fast, efficient, and secure, making it well suited for use in large, decentralized networks. In addition, Byteball provides users with the ability to send and receive payments, making it well suited for use in decentralized financial applications.