Hi there! Just following up after the Telegram discussion: https://t.me/BlockstackChat/43927. I’ve got some technical questions and it would be great if you could point out documentation links or answer the questions here. Thank you!
Why did you choose PoW for your blockchain, and not, say, PoS?
What algorithm does Gaia use to encrypt users’ data?
How will Blockstack Auth work on iOS? The question is about Apple’s policies towards third-party auth mechanisms (i.e. won’t Apple block apps with Blockstack Auth).
How can dApps developers determine the number of their active users?
2. What algorithm does Gaia use to encrypt users’ data?
Gaia itself doesn’t specify any encryption algorithms. If you use the default blockstack.js library to interact with Gaia, it will use elliptic curve encryption. You can take a look for yourself here: https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack.js/blob/master/src/encryption/ec.ts#L89
3. How will Blockstack Auth work on iOS? The question is about Apple’s policies towards third-party auth mechanisms (i.e. won’t Apple block apps with Blockstack Auth).
Blockstack on mobile is more than just an auth provider. Apple Sign In is not a replacement for Blockstack Auth. Currently, apps that integrate Blockstack SDK are not blocked from the app store. We’ll provide guidance to developers submitting their apps for review and work with Apple on this in the future. As of right now it is unclear how Apple views decentralized authentication systems.
How can dApps developers determine the number of their active users?
If you develop a multi-player app, you can use theblockstats to track this. It’s open-source so you can fork it and tweak it to just track your app if you prefer (theblockstats tracks all apps).