Title: A greener alternative for PoW without the centralization problem of PoS? Post by: some_guy on April 06, 2021, 03:08:08 PM Hi All,
Tldr: I have an idea of a consensus mechanism which eliminates the energy consumption problem of PoW and the centralization problem of PoS. I need your help to evaluate the idea of this (afaik) new concept. I think Bitcoin with Proof of Work (PoW) is quite a brilliant concept. But the biggest disadvantage of it is nearly disqualifying, meaning (of course) the high energy consumption. Actually, it is only the combination of today’s climate crisis which makes it so bad. If we already had worldwide 100% renewable energy production, I wouldn’t see it so serious. But it’s simply not the case and it will not be the case for the next few decades or even centuries. I know there are arguments claiming that the energy consumption of PoW would not increase much more or that the high energy consumption does not make that big part of CO2 release. None of them are convincing for me (but this thread shall not be a discussion of them…). So, we already have an alternative to PoW, Proof of Stake (PoS) and their “derivates”. It solves the energy consumption problem but has its own problems, one of the biggest being the problem of centralization (see, e.g. https://medium.com/stakin/centralization-of-stake-in-pos-f7ccb8f8254). In short: owning a certain number of coins (or some derived value) is some kind of “power” (e.g. to forge new blocks) with which you can earn even more coins and thus “collect” more power. You cannot lose the power you have. In contrast, in PoW you can lose (mining) power by others implementing more (mining) power. Your mining market share decreases. This cannot happen in PoS. Lately, I thought about these problems a little and come up with an idea of a consensus mechanism which combines the advantages of both (or rather eliminates the described biggest problems of both). The core idea is a PoS-similar mechanism but without a stake being the weight which enables you to be chosen for the forge of a new block but rather some kind of investment which is used as this weight. The relation between investment and block forging probability shall reflect the relation of PoW miners which must invest some money in their mining hardware to increase their market share and thus increase their probability of mining new blocks. Now, let’s be concrete about this consensus mechanism, let’s call it Proof of Investment (PoI) and the respective coin YAC. Here are the properties of PoI/YAC:
There are problems, though:
So, these are my thoughts. Do you think these are valid? Where are problems? Can it work at all? Is there already a similar concept? Title: Re: A greener alternative for PoW without the centralization problem of PoS? Post by: Fesatmas on April 06, 2021, 03:35:19 PM who has an idea as great and complex as this? what is being said, makes us even unable to support it so far. so to build any ideas do you have a reliable team. I appreciate your ideas and ideas, but is it just a theory that still needs tools in terms of its application?
Title: Re: A greener alternative for PoW without the centralization problem of PoS? Post by: some_guy on April 07, 2021, 07:44:55 AM It's only an idea, nothing more. There is no proof of concept, no team, no project, no time (from my side) to develope something like that if it came to it.
I thought it through as far as I could but I have no capacity to go further and it would be a dead end if I kept it for me. So, I posted it here. Wanted to see if it's worth something. Title: Re: A greener alternative for PoW without the centralization problem of PoS? Post by: freigeist on April 07, 2021, 04:57:27 PM Man. I have partially undestood what were you writing because
because mathematics is not my forte! In my opinion your idea resamble a little bit PoB (Proof of Burn) where account burns a part of stake to be able to "mine" produce blocks in future depending of the number of coins he has burned. Maybe you could take a look at this project which uses all 3 consensus mechanisms, PoW,PoS and PoB. The project was started long time ago but original developer left and there is a group of enthusiasts trying to revive it. old thread [ANN] Slimcoin : Proof of Burn NEW BLOCK GEN, Mineable by low power computer! (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=613213.4280) new thread: Slimcoin | First Proof of Burn currency | Decentralized Web (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1141676.0) Title: Re: A greener alternative for PoW without the centralization problem of PoS? Post by: some_guy on April 08, 2021, 08:38:16 AM Oh wow, thanks for the links. There's much to read but it seems to be quite the ting I searched for! At least the central idea is the same.
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