Research on Plasma

[Vishwas1]

• https://plasma.io/plasma.pdf
• https://docs.ethhub.io/ethereum-roadmap/layer-2-scaling/plasma/
• https://plasma.io/plasma-contracts.html

[Vishwas1]

Plasma is composed of two key parts of the design:

1. Reframing all blockchain computation into a set of MapReduce functions
2. an optional method to do Proof-of-Stake token bonding on top of existing blockchains

This construction is achieved by composing smart contracts on the main blockchain using fraud proofs whereby state transitions can be enforced on a parent blockchain.

We compose blockchains into a tree hierarchy:

• and treat each as an individual branch blockchain with enforced blockchain history
• and MapReducible computation committed into merkle proofs.

By framing one’s ledger entry into a child blockchain which is enforced by the parent chain, one can enable incredible scale with minimized

As only merkleized commitments are broadcast periodically to the root blockchain (i.e. Ethereum) during non-faulty states, this can allow for incredibly scalable, low cost transactions and computation. Plasma enables persistently operating decentralized applications at high scale.

Plasma is a way to do scalable computation on the blockchain with the structure of creating economic incentives to autonomously and persistently operate the chain without active state transition management by the contract creator. The nodes themselves are incentivized to operate the chain.

Additionally, significant scalability is achieved by minimizing the funds represented in a spend from a contract to a single bit in a bitmap, so that one transaction and signature rep-resents a payment coalesced with many participants. We combine this with a MapReduce[5] framework to be able to construct scalable computation enforced by bonded smart contracts.

This construction allows one to be able to have externalized parties hold funds and compute contracts on one’s behalf similar to a miner, but Plasma instead runs on top of an existing blockchain so that one does not need to create transactions on the underlying chain for every state update (including adding new users’ ledger entries), with minimal data on-chain for coalesced state updates.

We propose a method whereby multiparty off-chain channels can hold state on behalf of others. We call this framework a Plasma blockchain.

Plasma allows one (or a network of participants in a proof-of-stake network) to be able to manage a blockchain without a full persistent record of the ledger on the root blockchain and without giving custodial trust to the 3rd party or parties.