Proof of workload analysis

yae@newsletter.paragraph.com (yae) — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 04:25:36 GMT

Proof of work, when POW was first invented, was used to prevent spam. After a while, it was used in the electronic cash system Under the surface, what the mining in POW is actually doing is converting kinetic energy (electricity) into an account block. A miner repeatedly runs the hash calculation until it solves a cryptographic problem. All hash operations are discarded, except for the hash value that solves the problem. This tiny hash value only takes very little energy to calculate, but it is a direct manifestation of the large amount of energy required to produce it, which is the proof of digging out the block. To rewrite a block, a subsequent attacker also runs hash calculations approximately the same number of times as the original request to generate it. Let's repeat: reverse writing requires the same number of hash calculations, but not the same amount of energy. Because that hash value is only a manifestation of energy consumption, but not the energy itself. With the passage of Fortunately, for us, hash functions such as sha256 have been proved to be sufficiently random, that is, the so-called "pseudo-random". We have done many years of testing and stress testing on sha256, and there is a lot of research literature behind it. Therefore, there is nothing we need to worry about. Basically, I think the idea of "adding energy" to the block is right, and it may be the only way to simulate immutability in practice. Endorsing a block with consumed energy allows us to objectively evaluate immutability. On the contrary, any approach that is not based on energy will eventually require some people's subjective interpretation of immutability By adding energy to a block, we make it "form", make it have real weight and make an impact in the physical world. We can also think of workload as a magic that injects a pile of zeros and ones into real life. In other words, workload has proved to be a bridge between the electronic world and the physical world. Compare this to ether