Mina Protocol: The world's lightest Layer 1 public blockchain

Blockchain technology, as an innovative distributed ledger technology, has shown great potential in multiple fields such as finance, social networking, the Internet of Things, and identity authentication. However, as the scale of usage expands, blockchain faces scalability challenges. Taking Bitcoin and Ethereum as examples, their blockchain sizes have exceeded 400 GB and 600 GB respectively, creating significant barriers for ordinary users to participate in the network, which not only affects the degree of decentralization but also reduces overall security and reliability.

Although some projects attempt to address scalability issues through layered architecture, this approach also increases system complexity and may impact data integrity and interoperability. In this context, Mina Protocol was born, aiming to provide a blockchain solution that is both efficient and lightweight, without sacrificing security and decentralization.

Mina Protocol is a "succinct" blockchain based on zero-knowledge proof technology, with the key feature that the blockchain size remains around 22 KB regardless of the number of transactions or users in the network. This is because Mina only needs to store a zero-knowledge proof representing the current state, rather than all transaction history data. This innovation allows even ordinary mobile phones to synchronize and verify the Mina network, significantly lowering the participation threshold and enhancing the decentralization of the network.

In terms of consensus mechanism, Mina adopts the Ouroboros Samasika proof-of-stake algorithm. This algorithm allows an unlimited number of validators to participate and supports dynamic entry and exit of nodes, lowering the threshold for running nodes. At the same time, through the "longest chain rule" and a special concise state summary, Mina can effectively respond to various potential attacks.

Mina has also launched an innovative zkApps (zero-knowledge applications) platform, achieving features such as data privacy protection, cross-chain interoperability, and real-time network connectivity. Users can enjoy decentralized services while protecting their privacy, access data and services from other blockchains, and even interact with information from the real world.

The development team of Mina Protocol, O(1) Labs, was founded by Evan Shapiro and Izaak Meckler in 2017, bringing together a group of world-class cryptographers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Core team members include CEO Evan Shapiro, CTO Izaak Meckler, COO Emre Tekisalp, CFO Brad Cohn, and CMO Claire Kart, all of whom have rich industry experience and professional backgrounds.

Since its establishment, Mina Protocol has completed four rounds of financing, raising a total of approximately $48.15 million. Investors include well-known institutions such as DFG, Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Three Arrows Capital. These investments not only provide financial support but also facilitate Mina's market promotion, ecological construction, and strategic partnerships.

Currently, the on-chain data of Mina Protocol shows that the block height has reached 294908, with 178 supernodes, a circulating supply of 981,582,723 tokens, a total of 221,479 transactions, and an average transaction fee of $0.014.

Mina Protocol, with its advantages of efficiency, security, privacy, and interoperability, provides an innovative solution to the blockchain scalability issue and is expected to play an important role in the future blockchain ecosystem.