Exercise 3: Infrastructure and Architecture Analysis

⏰ Time Investment: 30-45 minutes 🎯 Goal: Understand blockchain infrastructure and the trilemma

📚 Required Reading Integration 📖 Primary: Lesson 3: Blockchain Infrastructure

🔍 Phase 1: Knowledge Check (15 minutes)

1. What is the Blockchain Trilemma?

• Your answer: _________________________________

2. Why are Bitcoin and Ethereum slow?

• Your answer: _________________________________

3. What is the difference between Layer 1 and Layer 2?

• Your answer: _________________________________

4. How do rollups solve scalability?

• Your answer: _________________________________

5. What is gas and why does it matter?

• Your answer: _________________________________

📊 Phase 2: Architecture Analysis (15 minutes)

Explain:

• How Layer 2s inherit Layer 1 security

• The difference between optimistic and ZK rollups

• When to use L1 vs L2

💡 Phase 3: Trade-off Analysis (15 minutes)

Analyze the trade-offs different blockchains make:

• Bitcoin/Ethereum (Security + Decentralization)

• Solana (Scalability + Security)

• What would you prioritize and why?