Environment sustainabily and Blockchain Network security

[cryptomarcianos]

Depending on the energy source, researchers estimate that crypto-mining can produce 3-15 million tons of global carbon emissions. Right from the manufacturing of mining equipment to cooling facilities and the handling of e-waste in addition to the energy consumed by the mining equipment to secure the network, it can be quite a wasteful process, however I do know that PoW has proved tobe an effective method to secure a network, as long as 51% of the whole network is not controlled by a central authority.

However, I cam across Virtual ASICs by Concordium is a very interesting concept that has been scientifically proven by academic research. I think it might be worth looking at. Virtual ASICs are essentially a virtualized version of proof-of-work.

Miners can buy on-chain virtual mining machines which can be powered by virtual electricity. Similar to their physical counterparts, each powered virtual ASIC has a certain chance to win the right to create the next block. In the boundary case where virtual electricity is free, the protocol corresponds to proof-of-stake using an ASIC token which is separate from the currency itself (the amount of stake equals your virtual computing power).

In the other boundary case where virtual computers are free, we get a proof-of-burn equivalent. That is, a consensus mechanism in which miners ‘burn’ money to obtain lottery tickets for the right to create the next block.

The authors ( “ Virtual ASICs: Generalized Proof-of-Stake Mining in Cryptocurrencies “) of provide the cryptographic machinery required to base a consensus protocol on Virtual ASICs, as well as to sell them in sealed-bid auctions on-chain. They ensure that as long as a majority of the miners in the system mine honestly, bids remain both private and binding, and that miners cannot censor the bids of their competitors. To achieve this, the authors introduce a novel all-or-nothing broadcast functionality in blockchains that is of independent interest.

I think this is an energy efficient and cryptographically secure method that might help us save the environment and at the same time not compromise on network security. What do you think about this?

[MrSpasybo]

I think POS is a better solution for the environment, because the block reward is divided among those who stake their tokens instead of other mining power. All staking participants only need 1 device containing a crypto wallet and network connection, they consume less than 1 gamer of energy