Everything about the @Plasma
The Plasma @Plasma project emerged as one of the most ambitious scalability solutions for Ethereum, operating under the concept of "child blockchains". Imagine that the main network (Layer 1) is a supreme court, overloaded with thousands of tiny processes. The @Plasma creates "smaller courts" that resolve everyday disputes and transactions independently and ultra-quickly.
The great original innovation of the @Plasma is that it does not need to record every detail on the main network. Instead, it uses Merkle Trees to send only a small "cryptographic summary" (a hash) to Ethereum from time to time. This means that the main network retains final security, but without the burden of processing every coffee purchased on the side chain.
The most human and brilliant point of the project is the "Exit Games" mechanism. If the child network suffers an attack or the validators try to cheat, users have a period of time to present proof of their balances and "escape" with their funds back to the main network. It's like realizing that the mall is going to close unfairly, you have a master key guaranteed by the government to safely retrieve your belongings. Although Rollups dominate the scene today, the @Plasma was the pioneer that proved it is possible to grow without losing the essence of decentralization.
