See Also
Proof of Location (PoL) Summary [Cryptocurrency consensus mechanisms]
In a Proof of Location consensus algorithm, users’ geospatial coordinates are accounted for as proof of value. This kind of algorithm is usually employed in cryptocurrency geomining systems. In a geomining application, users earn rewards for being at a certain place at a certain time. If, for example, a company wished to gather participants for […]
Opinion: Decentralized blockchains can only survive having a valuable token, like Bitcoin, attached to them [Feb 2018]
We’ve heard this time and again, especially from folks in the financial sector: “blockchain is here to stay, Bitcoin not so much”. Is this really so? We disagree, and in this article we discuss the origins of Bitcoin and how the problem it solved only makes sense when there’s a reward for participants to join […]
Proof of Elapsed Time (POET) Summary [Cryptocurrency consensus mechanisms]
In this poetically named consensus mechanism, network participants prove that they have slept for a random amount of time before being able to mint a block. POET was released by Intel in 2016 and was originally aimed at trusted computing using Intel CPU’s. A special instruction set called Software Guard Extensions (SGX) allows programs to […]
Opinion: Will Tether blow up? [Dec 2017]
There is an elephant in the room in the cryptocurrency world and it’s called Tether. The concept of a cryptocurrency that is tied to the world’s reference fiat currency is very interesting indeed. But it has a very expensive requirement: for every unit of this cryptocurrency, there must be an equal unit in the reference […]