Re: [bitcoin-dev] Opinion on proof of stake in future

[Zac Greenwood <zachgrw@gmail.com>]

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Hi ZmnSCPxj,

Please note that I am not suggesting VDFs as a means to save energy, but
solely as a means to make the time between blocks more constant.

Zac


On Tue, 18 May 2021 at 12:42, ZmnSCPxj <ZmnSCPxj@protonmail.com> wrote:

> Good morning Zac,
>
> > VDFs might enable more constant block times, for instance by having a
> two-step PoW:
> >
> > 1. Use a VDF that takes say 9 minutes to resolve (VDF being subject to
> difficulty adjustments similar to the as-is). As per the property of VDFs,
> miners are able show proof of work.
> >
> > 2. Use current PoW mechanism with lower difficulty so finding a block
> takes 1 minute on average, again subject to as-is difficulty adjustments.
> >
> > As a result, variation in block times will be greatly reduced.
>
> As I understand it, another weakness of VDFs is that they are not
> inherently progress-free (their sequential nature prevents that; they are
> inherently progress-requiring).
>
> Thus, a miner which focuses on improving the amount of energy that it can
> pump into the VDF circuitry (by overclocking and freezing the circuitry),
> could potentially get into a winner-takes-all situation, possibly leading
> to even *worse* competition and even *more* energy consumption.
> After all, if you can start mining 0.1s faster than the competition, that
> is a 0.1s advantage where *only you* can mine *in the entire world*.
>
> Regards,
> ZmnSCPxj
>

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