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Basecoin Basics

Here we explain how to get started with a simple Basecoin blockchain, how to send transactions between accounts using the basecoin tool, and what is happening under the hood.

Install

Installing Basecoin is simple:

go get -u github.com/dexpa/basecoin/cmd/...

If you have trouble, see the installation guide.

Note the above command installs two binaries: basecoin and basecli. The former is the running node. The latter is a command-line light-client.

Generate some keys

Let's generate two keys, one to receive an initial allocation of coins, and one to send some coins to later:

# WARNING: this will wipe out any existing info in the ~/.basecli dir
# including private keys, don't run if you have lots of local state already
# while we're at it let's remove the working directory for the full node too
basecli reset_all
rm -rf ~/.basecoin

basecli keys new cool
basecli keys new friend

You'll need to enter passwords. You can view your key names and addresses with basecli keys list, or see a particular key's address with basecli keys get <NAME>.

Initialize Basecoin

To initialize a new Basecoin blockchain, run:

# WARNING: this will wipe out any existing info in the ~/.basecoin dir
# don't run if you have lots of local state already
rm -rf ~/.basecoin
basecoin init <ADDRESS>

If you prefer not to copy-paste, you can provide the address programatically:

basecoin init $(basecli keys get cool | awk '{print $2}')

This will create the necessary files for a Basecoin blockchain with one validator and one account (corresponding to your key) in ~/.basecoin. For more options on setup, see the guide to using the Basecoin tool.

If you like, you can manually add some more accounts to the blockchain by generating keys and editing the ~/.basecoin/genesis.json.

Start

Now we can start Basecoin:

basecoin start

You should see blocks start streaming in!

Initialize Light-Client

Now that Basecoin is running we can initialize basecli, the light-client utility. Basecli is used for sending transactions and querying the state. Leave Basecoin running and open a new terminal window. Here run:

basecli init --node=tcp://localhost:46657 --genesis=$HOME/.basecoin/genesis.json

If you provide the genesis file to basecli, it can calculate the proper chainID and validator hash. Basecli needs to get this information from some trusted source, so all queries done with basecli can be cryptographically proven to be correct according to a known validator set.

Note: that --genesis only works if there have been no validator set changes since genesis. If there are validator set changes, you need to find the current set through some other method.

Send transactions

Now we are ready to send some transactions. First Let's check the balance of the two accounts we setup earlier:

ME=$(basecli keys get cool | awk '{print $2}')
YOU=$(basecli keys get friend | awk '{print $2}')
basecli query account $ME
basecli query account $YOU

The first account is flush with cash, while the second account doesn't exist. Let's send funds from the first account to the second:

basecli tx send --name=cool --amount=1000mycoin --to=$YOU --sequence=1

Now if we check the second account, it should have 1000 'mycoin' coins!

basecli query account $YOU

We can send some of these coins back like so:

basecli tx send --name=friend --amount=500mycoin --to=$ME --sequence=1

Note how we use the --name flag to select a different account to send from.

If we try to send too much, we'll get an error:

basecli tx send --name=friend --amount=500000mycoin --to=$ME --sequence=2

Let's send another transaction:

basecli tx send --name=cool --amount=2345mycoin --to=$YOU --sequence=2

Note the hash value in the response - this is the hash of the transaction. We can query for the transaction by this hash:

basecli query tx <HASH>

See basecli tx send --help for additional details.

Proof

Even if you don't see it in the UI, the result of every query comes with a proof. This is a Merkle proof that the result of the query is actually contained in the state. and the state's Merkle root is contained in a recent block header. Behind the scenes, countercli will not only verify that this state matches the header, but also that the header is properly signed by the known validator set. It will even update the validator set as needed, so long as there have not been major changes and it is secure to do so. So, if you wonder why the query may take a second... there is a lot of work going on in the background to make sure even a lying full node can't trick your client.

In a latter guide on InterBlockchainCommunication, we'll use these proofs to post transactions to other chains.

Accounts and Transactions

For a better understanding of how to further use the tools, it helps to understand the underlying data structures.

Accounts

The Basecoin state consists entirely of a set of accounts. Each account contains a public key, a balance in many different coin denominations, and a strictly increasing sequence number for replay protection. This type of account was directly inspired by accounts in Ethereum, and is unlike Bitcoin's use of Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs). Note Basecoin is a multi-asset cryptocurrency, so each account can have many different kinds of tokens.

type Account struct {
	PubKey   crypto.PubKey `json:"pub_key"` // May be nil, if not known.
	Sequence int           `json:"sequence"`
	Balance  Coins         `json:"coins"`
}

type Coins []Coin

type Coin struct {
	Denom  string `json:"denom"`
	Amount int64  `json:"amount"`
}

If you want to add more coins to a blockchain, you can do so manually in the ~/.basecoin/genesis.json before you start the blockchain for the first time.

Accounts are serialized and stored in a Merkle tree under the key base/a/<address>, where <address> is the address of the account. Typically, the address of the account is the 20-byte RIPEMD160 hash of the public key, but other formats are acceptable as well, as defined in the Tendermint crypto library. The Merkle tree used in Basecoin is a balanced, binary search tree, which we call an IAVL tree.

Transactions

Basecoin defines a simple transaction type, the SendTx, which allows tokens to be sent to other accounts. The SendTx takes a list of inputs and a list of outputs, and transfers all the tokens listed in the inputs from their corresponding accounts to the accounts listed in the output. The SendTx is structured as follows:

type SendTx struct {
  Gas     int64      `json:"gas"`
  Fee     Coin       `json:"fee"`
  Inputs  []TxInput  `json:"inputs"`
  Outputs []TxOutput `json:"outputs"`
}

type TxInput struct {
  Address   []byte           `json:"address"`   // Hash of the PubKey
  Coins     Coins            `json:"coins"`     //
  Sequence  int              `json:"sequence"`  // Must be 1 greater than the last committed TxInput
  Signature crypto.Signature `json:"signature"` // Depends on the PubKey type and the whole Tx
  PubKey    crypto.PubKey    `json:"pub_key"`   // Is present iff Sequence == 0
}

type TxOutput struct {
  Address []byte `json:"address"` // Hash of the PubKey
  Coins   Coins  `json:"coins"`   //
}

Note the SendTx includes a field for Gas and Fee. The Gas limits the total amount of computation that can be done by the transaction, while the Fee refers to the total amount paid in fees. This is slightly different from Ethereum's concept of Gas and GasPrice, where Fee = Gas x GasPrice. In Basecoin, the Gas and Fee are independent, and the GasPrice is implicit.

In Basecoin, the Fee is meant to be used by the validators to inform the ordering of transactions, like in Bitcoin. And the Gas is meant to be used by the application plugin to control its execution. There is currently no means to pass Fee information to the Tendermint validators, but it will come soon...

Note also that the PubKey only needs to be sent for Sequence == 0. After that, it is stored under the account in the Merkle tree and subsequent transactions can exclude it, using only the Address to refer to the sender. Ethereum does not require public keys to be sent in transactions as it uses a different elliptic curve scheme which enables the public key to be derived from the signature itself.

Finally, note that the use of multiple inputs and multiple outputs allows us to send many different types of tokens between many different accounts at once in an atomic transaction. Thus, the SendTx can serve as a basic unit of decentralized exchange. When using multiple inputs and outputs, you must make sure that the sum of coins of the inputs equals the sum of coins of the outputs (no creating money), and that all accounts that provide inputs have signed the transaction.

Conclusion

In this guide, we introduced the basecoin and basecli tools, demonstrated how to start a new basecoin blockchain and how to send tokens between accounts, and discussed the underlying data types for accounts and transactions, specifically the Account and the SendTx. In the next guide, we introduce the Basecoin plugin system, which uses a new transaction type, the AppTx, to extend the functionality of the Basecoin system with arbitrary logic.