ir.hn (OP)
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Consensus is Constitution
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January 18, 2022, 10:50:37 AM Last edit: January 18, 2022, 11:08:11 AM by ir.hn |
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Proof of Transaction (PoT or PoTx) will likely be a supplemental mining method in blockchains and tokens.
Transactions have a provable cost in terms of transaction fee. So why not use it as a method of mining?
We could look at Transaction ID, which is the hash of all the transaction info. If the txid meets a difficulty requirement (like it contains a certain number of leading zero's) then we could say that was proof that many transactions were sent in order to hit that lucky number. But this would be false. Getting a txid does NOT mean that the transaction was broadcast to the network. So an attacker could just keep changing the transaction data and get a winning txid before ever sending a transaction to the network.
So how do we verify that the transactions are sent before they are determined a winner? Well we would need to make sure it was included in a block. So one workable solution would be to look at not the transaction id, but the hash of the transaction id together with the block hash of the block the transaction was included in. So say we concatenate the txid and blockhash and hash them together. If a certain number of leading zeroes are found, then the transaction is a winner.
In order to reward this in Bitcoin or other blockchains the best way would be to then require the miner of the next block to include the address that sent the winning transaction some of the coinbase reward. In smart contract tokens, a smart contract for the token could mint and distribute rewards to all holders if desired, add liquidity, and/or reward the address that sent the winning transaction. This would likely have to be called by a special function, or require every transaction to check the last block for a winner. With auto-liquidity or reflection tokens the % transaction fee is another way to prevent spamming transactions trying to win, and a minimum number of tokens sent could be required to have a chance to win.
Why do this? It opens up a new way for mining and incentivizes transaction creation and thus volume. We all know bitcoin will eventually have to survive on fees alone so this would be a way to increase demand for blockspace. In bitcoin, the winning transaction would get delegated some of the next block's reward; whether the block reward is emission or just entirely fees.
In other tokens this method could be used to create randomized drops of fresh minted tokens, and these drops would scale in frequency with the volume. So the higher the volume the more coins get minted for example.
This method could also power a bitcoin layer 2 token, simply look at the bitcoin blockchain and mint a token to the address of the creator of the winning transaction.
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