DEV Community: András Novoszáth

◼️48/100 Block-by-Block: Randomness and entropy in cryptography

András Novoszáth — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 17:56:26 +0000

One thing I learned about: Randomness and entropy in cryptography

Entropy: Amount of non-redundant information in some data
Randomness: Unpredictability of this information

Key size provides the highest possible entropy of a cryptographic key.

But, this assumes perfectly random keys. Less random keys have less entropy.

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

'Polkadot Blockchain Academy': https://pbax.polkadot.academy/

◼️47/100: Block-by-Block: Cryptographic guarantees

András Novoszáth — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 07:19:08 +0000

One thing I learned about: Cryptographic guarantees

Confidentiality: Only we can access it.
Authenticity: They were the ones who sent it.
Integrity: This is what they have sent.
Non-repudiation: They really have sent it.

+ Data availability: We can access the data.
+ Data verifiability: We can tell this about the data without reading the data.

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

'Polkadot Blockchain Academy': https://pbax.polkadot.academy/

◼️46/100 Block-by-Block: How Ponder optimized its data indexing workflow

András Novoszáth — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 06:20:41 +0000

One thing I learned about: How Ponder optimized its data indexing workflow

Ponder indexes EVM smart contracts for mobile & web developers.

It works as an ETL pipeline from RPC nodes to a Postgres database.

It aims to process 100,000 events per second.

Three speed optimizations it took:

Cache events in-memory with periodical flushes in batch
Move primary key checks to the cache flush step
Pre-fetch queries based on database access patterns

+ Also tried: static code parser with concurrent indexing

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

Why Ponder: https://ponder.sh/docs/why-ponder
Ponder’s (ongoing) journey to 100,000 events per second (2025): https://ponder.sh/blog/performance

◼️45/100 Block-by-Block: Types of Token Design projects

András Novoszáth — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 19:33:27 +0000

One thing I learned about: Types of Token Design projects

Token design helps token issuers find a token-network fit.

However, token design is different before and after the token launch.

Pre-launch: systematic, theory-driven
Post-launch: iterative, data-driven

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

Unpacking Token Design (2023): https://medium.com/@VendingMachine/unpacking-token-design-3a44d1eef6b5
A Token Design Thesis (2023): https://medium.com/@VendingMachine/a-token-design-thesis-1d1b400461d9

◼️44/100 Block-by-Block: Bloom filters

András Novoszáth — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 20:54:21 +0000

One thing I learned about: Bloom filters.

On-chain data indexers often try to avoid refetching the same transactions.

A bloom filter can help to test if they already have a record.

It is a probabilistic data structure consisting of a binary array
Maps record hash values to values of the array
Maps record keys to the corresponding indexes of the array
Membership check consists of checking the array values

Caveat: Can produce false positives.

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

Real-time Blockchain Data Indexing: Challenges and Solutions (2025): https://medium.com/@aannkkiittaa/real-time-blockchain-data-indexing-challenges-and-solutions-fcb1f8aa3911
Bloom Filters (2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3pzxngeLqw&t=208

◼️43/100 Block-by-Block: Blockchain nodes - my current understanding

András Novoszáth — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:50:08 +0000

One thing I learned about: Blockchain nodes - my current understanding

I discovered a writing contest on blockchain nodes by Hackernoon and Getblock.

I decided to enter.

I wanted to write a 'comprehensive' overview. But the time was short, and I realized some knowledge gaps. So, it became an 'essential' overview instead. :'-)

Anyway, here is the article: https://hackernoon.com/what-is-a-blockchain-node-and-how-does-it-work-essential-overview

I hope you find it useful. It was for me.

And, a shoutout to NeoSoft for the image! Was a lifesaver in the last moment. :)

P.S.: I learned a lot writing it. Will try to share them in the upcoming days...

◼️42/100 Block-by-Block: Web3 Data Engineering Guides

András Novoszáth — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 19:30:41 +0000

One thing I learned about: Web3 Data Engineering Guides

Two further great data engineering guides I missed before:

"Getting Started as a Data Engineer with a Blockchain Scenario — Part I" (2025): https://medium.com/towards-data-engineering/getting-started-as-a-data-engineer-with-a-blockchain-scenario-part-i-ce7c3aea3433
"[2025 Annual Guide] Crypto Data Engineering Guide" (2025): https://read.cryptodatabytes.com/p/2025-annual-guide-crypto-data-engineering

◼️41/100 Block-by-Block: The steps of the blockchain verification flow

András Novoszáth — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 08:04:21 +0000

One thing I learned about: The steps of the blockchain verification flow

The three main stages:

Transaction lifecycle
Block creation
Block propagation

🔽📝Breakdown🔽

Transaction flow

User signs a transaction and sends it to a node
Node verifies the transaction
Node broadcasts the transaction to the mempool
Other nodes also validate the transaction

Block creation and proposal

Validators/Miners select transactions from the mempool
They create a candidate block
The network picks the winning block based on the consensus mechanism.
They broadcast the winning block to other nodes

Block propagation and consensus

Other nodes receive and verify new blocks
They append the block to their local chain
The longest chain becomes the new reality

A few things I am still unclear about:

How do nodes find each other?
Where is the mempool? :)
The steps of the consensus mechanism?
How does the network pick the winning block/validator?
How does the network handle node desynchronization?

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

Blockchain Verification Process: Explained: https://www.solulab.com/how-blockchain-verification-work/
How is a Cryptocurrency Transaction Verified on a Blockchain Network: https://econone.com/resources/blogs/cryptocurrency-transaction-verified-blockchain-network/
Blockchain Transaction Lifecycle: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/blockchain-transaction-life-cycle/

◼️40/100 Block-by-Block: Alternatives to using blockchain nodes

András Novoszáth — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 20:27:08 +0000

One thing I learned about: Alternatives to using blockchain nodes

Blockchains do not always need to use full nodes for every task in the network.

They can use alternatives suited to their goals, circumstances, and constraints.

Examples:

Light clients: performs trust-minimized verification by requesting proofs from full nodes.
Data availability layers: store and serve block data apart from execution nodes.
Layer2 and sidechains: process data off-chain and rely on proofs or state roots.
Blockchain indexers: store data and allow queries nodes do not support.
Remote or federated APIs: third-party on-chain data providers

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

What is Data Availability in Blockchain? (2024) via @NervosNetwork: https://www.nervos.org/knowledge-base/what_is_data_%20availability_in_blockchain_(explainCKBot)
Blockchain Data Solutions: Should You Use RPC or Indexers? by @bitquery_io: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-data-solutions-should-you-use-rpc-indexers-bitquery-vdxnf
What Is the Data Availability Layer? (2022) by @AlchemyPlatform: https://www.alchemy.com/overviews/data-availability-layer

◼️39/100 Block-by-Block: Blockchain node components

András Novoszáth — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 18:38:11 +0000

One thing I learned about: Blockchain node components

Nodes work differently depending on the blockchain and their role within the blockchain.

Some general components & functions across the stack:

P2P Networking
Mempool Management
Consensus Execution
State & Ledger storage
RPC/API Layer
Synch mechanisms

◼️38/100 Block-by-Block: The fastest way to set up a blockchain node (II)

András Novoszáth — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 15:49:52 +0000

One thing I learned about: The fastest way to set up a blockchain node (II)

(Perhaps) the fastest way to set up a blockchain node is to start a light Celestia node in your browser: https://lumina.rs/

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

@celestia: https://celestia.org/

◼️37/100 Block-by-Block: Providers of indexed on-chain data

András Novoszáth — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:36:52 +0000

One thing I learned about: Providers of indexed on-chain data

Blockchain data is hard to search and query.

Indexed data providers restructure on-chain data and serve them in a queriable format.

Main players:

🔽🛠️Resources🔽

The Evolution of Data Access in Web3: https://dfg-official.medium.com/the-evolution-of-data-access-in-web3-5d09e837150b