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Valuable Puzzles for Proofs-of-Work

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Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology (DPM 2018, CBT 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 11025))

Abstract

Proof-of-work (PoW) is used as the consensus mechanism in most cryptocurrencies. PoW-based puzzles play an important part in the operation and security of a cryptocurrency, but come at a considerable energy cost. One approach to the problem of energy wastage is to find ways to build PoW schemes from valuable computational problems. This work proposes calibration of public key cryptographic systems as a suitable source of PoW puzzles. We describe the properties needed to adapt public key cryptosystems as PoW functions suitable for decentralised cryptocurrencies and provide a candidate example.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Colin Boyd & Christopher Carr

Authors
  1. Colin Boyd
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  2. Christopher Carr
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Colin Boyd .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Télécom SudParis, Evry, France

    Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro

  2. Enginyeria de la Informacio I de les Com, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Jordi Herrera-Joancomartí

  3. Università degli Studi di Milano, Crema, Italy

    Giovanni Livraga

  4. Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Ruben Rios

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Boyd, C., Carr, C. (2018). Valuable Puzzles for Proofs-of-Work. In: Garcia-Alfaro, J., Herrera-Joancomartí, J., Livraga, G., Rios, R. (eds) Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology. DPM CBT 2018 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11025. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-00304-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-00305-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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