Proof of Work is Dying But Why Should Mining?
Long Live Proof of Useful Work
Proof-of-Work security of Blockchain technology has been the face of extensive scrutiny the past month, with several people criticizing the amount of electricity consumed by mining. Just Bitcoin uses more electricity than entire countries. Notably, fractions of this come from clean energy but it’s no brainer that it’s contributing to increased power plant demand. Which means more fossil fuels.
Elon Musk’s company Tesla even quoted the high energy usage as being a reason that they stopped accepting Bitcoin for vehicle purchases. This undoubtedly added skepticism to the legitimacy of CryptoCurrency.
The way Proof-of-Work mining currently works is flawed. Solving thousands of hashes to be verified by a collection of people only benefits the blockchain while sucking natural resources.
Why not secure the chain while solving meaningful problems?
Johnathan Blow tweeted yesterday about tying a blockchain to a system involving proof of productivity, his recommendation? Protein folding or proving [submitted] theorems.
This would allow people to continue to maintain profits from preexisting machines but allow progress to continue for the greater good. This would be a meaningful process for thousands of people who would normally have to wait for supercomputer queue times.
Having a blockchain tied to a meaningful process would also mimic the real supply and demand economy that traditional currency would make it feel more realistic. Plus would also be a driver in making meaningful progress for the world around us. It would also supply an additional option to Blockchain technology than just Proof-of-Stake.
Additional research to read on a Proof of Useful Work system can be found here: 203.pdf (iacr.org).
