mPoW: How to Make Proof of Work Meaningful

【Author】 Asanuma, Takaki; Isobe, Takanori

【Source】IEICE TRANSACTIONS ON FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRONICS COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPUTER SCIENCES

【影响因子】0.423

【Abstract】Proof of Work (PoW), which is a consensus algorithm for blockchain, entails a large number of meaningless hash calculations and wastage of electric power and computational resources. In 2021, it is esti-mated that the PoW of Bitcoin consumes as much electricity as Pakistan's annual power consumption (91 TWh). This is a serious problem against sustainable development goals. To solve this problem, this study pro-poses Meaningful-PoW (mPoW), which involves a meaningful calculation, namely the application of a genetic algorithm (GA) to PoW. Specifically, by using the intermediate values that are periodically generated through GA calculations as an input to the Hashcash used in Bitcoin, it is possible to make this scheme a meaningful calculation (GA optimization problem) while maintaining the properties required for PoW. Furthermore, by apply-ing a device-binding technology, mPoW can be ASIC resistant without the requirement of a large memory. Thus, we show that mPoW can reduce the excessive consumption of both power and computational resources.

【Keywords】blockchain; proof of work; energy consumption; genetic algo-rithm

【发表时间】2023 MAR

【收录时间】2023-06-25

【文献类型】理论模型

【主题类别】

区块链技术-核心技术-共识机制