Submarine cable resilience

(blog.apnic.net)

48 points | by speckx 2 hours ago

2 comments

  • alexpotato 44 minutes ago
    I worked for an L1 blockchain for a couple years and while the term "decentralized" is bandied about a bit too much, reading articles like this does underscore how vulnerable global traffic is.

    e.g. some EVM chains have a majority of "stake" in either one country or several adjacent countries (particularly in Asia). A cable cut there, which the article points out has happened, can lead to the blockchain getting cut off or even halting.

    • scottyah 28 minutes ago
      I think people conflate decentralization with redundancy or resilience. IMO it just means you have multiple points of failure instead of one.
    • hylaride 39 minutes ago
      I think the issue is that centralization is more economical due to scale, but that assumes all else (geopolitics or other black swan events) don't impact things.

      We saw a similar thing with supply chains and chip suppliers.

  • ortusdux 59 minutes ago
    Reminds me of the Tom Scott video on the cable singe that leverages the moiré effect:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d99_h30swtM