Author: g 2017-04-10 15:25:05
Published on: 2017-04-10T15:25:05+00:00
In an email exchange between Garrett MacDonald and Erik Aronesty via the bitcoin-dev mailing list, Aronesty suggests that Bitcoin should gradually migrate to a commoditized Proof of Work (POW) algorithm as a way to prevent centralization. He proposes that a ramp-down of reliance on SHA-256 and a ramp-up on some of the proven, np-complete graph-theoretic or polygon manipulation POW would keep Bitcoin in commodity hardware and out of the hands of centralized manufacturing for many years. Aronesty believes that regular, high-consensus POW changes might even be necessary as part of good maintenance of cryptocurrency in general. He suggests killing the existing POW, and using an as-yet undefined but deployment-bit ready POW field to flip-flop between the current and the "next one" every eight years or so, with a ramp down beginning in the seventh year, enabling rapid-response to quantum tech, or some other needed POW switch as well. However, MacDonald raises the concern that such a change could result in huge losses for miners who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the current algorithm, and may not be agreeable to them.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T23:58:40.354588+00:00