Author: Zac Greenwood 2021-05-18 14:02:18
Published on: 2021-05-18T14:02:18+00:00
In an email exchange, Zac proposed that verifiable delay functions (VDFs) could provide a means to make the time between blocks more constant. However, he clarified that he was not suggesting VDFs as a way to save energy. Zac suggested using a two-step proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism with a VDF that takes around 9 minutes to resolve, followed by the current PoW mechanism with a lower difficulty so that finding a block takes an average of 1 minute, subject to existing difficulty adjustments. This would greatly reduce variation in block times. ZmnSCPxj responded by noting that VDFs are inherently progress-requiring and not progress-free, which means that miners who focus on improving the amount of energy they can pump into the VDF circuitry could potentially get into a winner-takes-all situation. This could lead to even worse competition and even more energy consumption. If a miner can start mining just 0.1 seconds faster than the competition, that is a significant advantage where only they can mine in the entire world.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T20:50:44.003788+00:00