Author: Billy Tetrud 2021-05-25 20:01:51
Published on: 2021-05-25T20:01:51+00:00
The feasibility of proof-of-stake (PoS) as a global settlement layer in digital assets was discussed, with some arguing that it is not suitable due to the responsibilities and inability of coin holders to handle them. However, it can be made secure through rigorous study and punishment systems to prevent miners from minting on old blocks. Proof of burn (PoB) can also solve the nothing-at-stake problem by always having burn investments "at stake," making it more secure than PoS and even proof-of-work. Additionally, PoB eliminates the weakness caused by energy dependence, which could lead to state monopolies on mining.An article compared two different approaches to PoS protocols: Proof of SquareSpace and "pure" proof of stake, discussing their potential impact on Bitcoin. The author argued that PoS protocols conflict with Bitcoin's objective of being a trustless digital cash, as they require permission from someone to gain tokens and must have trusted means of timestamping. While PoW has its own centralization pressure and requires high energy usage, it is more resilient to attacks than PoS. However, the author acknowledged that there may be a PoS consensus protocol with higher security and lower resource costs that does not compromise Bitcoin's critical security properties.A recent discussion on the possibility of using Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) to enable more constant block times in Bitcoin dev mailing list caught attention. Some are concerned about the energy consumption and potential for overclocking and freezing circuitry to gain an advantage. A suggestion was made about using burned coins of a specific age as a replacement for proof of work in a working proof-of-burn protocol. The burned coin + VDF system might have more security in the long run, if agreed upon by the entire space. However, the discussion was suggested to focus on PoW, oPoW, and the BIP itself, rather than other alternatives like PoS and VDFs.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T20:55:09.722455+00:00