Topic: Explain pls what are sidechains and drivechains? (Read 416 times)

The benefits of sidechains are plentiful as the negatives, I think.  If a sidechain is an independently operated chain like the side chains in Komodo for example, there is comfort in some stability. What I am referring to is this: If an event occurs that affects the main chain, such as an attack, the side chains remain unnaffected.  That's a plus, for blockchain based businesses, and altcoins.

"Sidechain" is a general term for blockchains that are in some way "pegged" to another blockchain like Bitcoin. The most simple of them work with an "1-way-peg":  If you want to transact 1 BTC to the sidechain, then you freeze a BTC on the main chain and one token on the sidechain is created. So initially the peg is 1=1.

The problem: If you want to exchange sidechain tokens to mainchain BTC, then you must buy them at an exchange - so effectively these kinds of sidechains are an "altcoin".

"Drivechain" is not something different than a "sidechain", but a sidechain concept where a two-way peg exists. The mechanism to transfer BTC from the main chain to the drivechain works like in 1-way sidechains. But you can go back: you destroy a "DrivechainBTC" on the drivechain and (with a somewhat complicated mechanism) miners "unfreeze" a freezed BTC on the main chain.

There is a second kind of "2-way-peg" that is more centralized, used for example by Blockstream and Rootstock. In this sidechain concept the frozen BTC are controlled by a "federation" (a group of "trusted" users, like exchanges) that unfreeze the BTC if they detect that a "SidechainBTC" is destroyed.

You can compare the Blockstream sidechain concept and the Drivechain concept with respect to security: In the Blockstream concept, it depends that the "Federation" does not collude to steal frozen Bitcoins or censor transactions that go from the sidechain to the main chain. In the Drivechain concept, miners decide - as long as they don't collude, it's secure.

In my opinion the Drivechain concept is more secure because miners have high costs (energy, mining equipment) and so they would lose more if they collude and lose credibility.  For small sidechains, however, the Blockstream model may be more secure (see Paul Sztorc's article, above all the section "Drivechain’s Security" - long read but essential if you want to really understand the concept).

It is an interesting question, not a stupid one!
Actually, I also haven't faced such information yet...

Sorry if my question is stupid I was just wondering is there a difference in security of funds on a sidechain and drivechain?

@all
Thank you a lot! Now I began to get the picture.
Links are very useful. I am going to use them for a deeper insight.

You can find some useful and connected information at this link too.
www[.]rsk.co/blog/sidechains-drivechains-and-rsk-2-way-peg-design

Additional questions are answered there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6hpkqd/how_to_get_both_decentralisation_and_the/dj0qhbh/

Sidechains are chains that work along the main chain so they are backed by the main chain's haspower. In order to operate on the sidechain, there is a 1-way peg of BTC so no additional BTC's are created, you can go in and out of the chains with your BTC without needing extra tokens.

Hi! Help me please to figure out what are sideshares and driveshares, because I am a little confused..