Public vs. Private Blockchain Technology

Advantages of Blockchain vs. Traditional Storage

At its core, the public blockchain offers key advantages over traditional data storage. It is permissionless, with access available to anyone and no gatekeepers. It is private, with transactions that are pseudonymous with integrated encryption and additional obfuscation available. It is flexible, with data of any kind storable on-chain. It is distributed, with a worldwide network of professional data centres sharing the load for low cost, high uptime, and network resilience. And it is secure, with immutable, permanent records of transactions without a centralised point of trust.

• Permissionless: No gatekeepers, open access for anyone
• Private: Pseudonymous transactions with integrated encryption
• Flexible: Any data type can be stored on-chain
• Distributed: Global data centres for low cost and high resilience
• Secure: Immutable, permanent records without centralised trust

How The Public Blockchain Is Actually Very Private

Just because something is public does not mean it is insecure. What many would like you to believe is that using the public blockchain is like writing a message in plain language on a billboard in Times Square. What it's actually more similar to is writing a message in an effectively unbreakable cipher, cutting it into dozens of tiny pieces, re-encoding each piece with its own cipher, and then scattering those pieces in a landfill with trillions of similar encoded pieces -- with nobody even knowing you were doing it. Only the intended recipient has the map and the codes. The amount of computing power required to identify, assemble, and decipher a message renders it secure.

Private By Design

Privacy was addressed in the original Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2008. Transactions are pseudonymous, with each transaction ideally using new addresses for both sender and receiver. Since this information is generally not publicly known, transactions are effectively anonymous. Any data can be encrypted or multi-encrypted before publishing, and fragmented at random in a way easily reassembled by the recipient. Security is maximised through anonymisation and constant re-anonymisation, encryption, and fragmentation with possible fragment re-encryption. Even if an anonymous identity were somehow found out, the encrypted contents would remain unknown. Even if encryption were cracked, the data may be incomplete or nonsensical without context.

The Problems With Private Blockchains

Private blockchains are essentially cumbersome databases. They are expensive, with server costs, IT staffing, and infrastructure borne by the entity responsible -- making them out of reach for smaller companies and untenable long-term even for global players like IBM and Maersk. They are slow, with up to 1,500 TPS compared to the public blockchain's 50,000+ TPS. They are proprietary, meaning interoperability is financially nonviable and companies are locked into specific technology. They are insecure, since both data sources and validators are often within the same industry, meaning friendly collusion can rewrite the blockchain at will. And they are intransparent, with gatekeepers from the same company trying to earn consumer trust.

Building On The Public Blockchain

The cost, responsibility, slow speed, and intransparency of a private blockchain are simply not needed when building on the public blockchain is sufficiently secure and private. What mintBlue brings to the table is a customisable SDK with an API that interfaces with the public blockchain. You can connect your current database right to the blockchain with minimal overhead, embed support for mintBlue if already on a blockchain platform, or have solutions custom-built by expert engineers. Since data and access controls are on the public blockchain, there are no interoperability issues with other solutions, now or in the future.