proof of stake [English]
Syndetic Relationships
InterPARES Definition
No definition in earlier IP projects. ITrust definition not yet developed.
Other Definitions
- Bitcoin Group [2017] (†846 s.v. "Proof of stake"): An alternative to proof of work, in which your existing stake in a currency (the amount of that currency that you hold) is used to calculate the amount of that currency that you can mine.
- BlockchainHub Glossary (†807 s.v. "Proof of Stake"): Proof-of-stake (PoS) is a method by which a cryptocurrency blockchain network aims to achieve distributed consensus. While the proof-of-work (PoW) method asks users to repeatedly run hashing algorithms or other client puzzles, to validate electronic transactions, proof-of-stake asks users to prove ownership of a certain amount of currency (their “stake” in the currency). Peercoin was the first cryptocurrency to launch using proof-of-Stake. Other prominent implementations are found in BitShares, Nxt, BlackCoin, NuShares/NuBits and Qora. Ethereum has planned a hard fork transition from PoW to PoS consensus. Decred hybridizes PoW with PoS and combines elements of both in an attempt to garner the benefits of the two systems and create a more robust notion of consensus. With Proof of Work, the probability of mining a block depends on the work done by the miner (e.g. CPU/GPU cycles spent checking hashes). In the case of Bitcoin, with Proof of Stake, the resource that’s compared is the amount of Bitcoin a miner holds – someone holding 1% of the Bitcoin can mine 1% of the “Proof of Stake blocks”. Instead of sacrificing energy to mine a block, a user must prove they own a certain amount of the cryptocurrency to generate a block. The more stake you own, the more likely you are to generate a block. In theory, this should prevent users from creating forks because it will devalue their stake and it should save a lot of energy. Proof of Stake sounds like a good idea, but ironically, there is the “Nothing at Stake” problem. Since mining Bitcoins is costly, it is not smart to waste your energy on a fork that won’t earn you any money, however with Proof of Stake, it is free to mine a fork.
- Scaling Bitcoin [2017] (†845 s.v. "Proof-of-Stake / PoS"): Proof-of-stake (PoS) is a method by which a cryptocurrency blockchain network aims to achieve distributed consensus. While the proof-of-work (PoW) method asks users to repeatedly run hashing algorithms or other client puzzles to validate electronic transactions, proof-of-stake asks users to prove ownership of a certain amount of currency (their "stake" in the currency). Peercoin was the first cryptocurrency to launch using proof-of-Stake. Other prominent implementations are found in BitShares, ShadowCash, Nxt, BlackCoin, NuShares/NuBits and Qora. Ethereum has planned a hard fork transition from PoW to PoS consensus.
Citations
- Blockchain Technologies 2016 (†789 s.v. "Proof-of-Stake"): An alternative to the proof-of-work system, in which your existing stake in a cryptocurrency (the amount of that currency that you hold) is used to calculate the amount of that currency that you can mine (†2122)
- Buterin [2017] (†818 s.v. "History"): Since then, an alternative approach has been proposed called proof of stake, calculating the weight of a node as being proportional to its currency holdings and not its computational resources. (†2179)