Blockchain POS mechanism
POW: full name of proof of work
pos: proof of stake
both of them are the consensus mechanism of blockchain and the bookkeeping method of digital currency
the difference is:
1. POW mechanism: workload proof mechanism, that is, the proof of workload, is the requirement that must be met when generating a new transaction information (that is, a new block) to be added to the blockchain. In the blockchain network based on workload proof mechanism, the ability of nodes to obtain the correct numerical solution to generate blocks by calculating the numerical solution of random hash hash is the specific performance of node computing power
POS mechanism: the proof of rights and interests requires the certifier to provide a certain amount of ownership of cryptocurrency. The operation mode of the proof of rights and interests mechanism is that when creating a new block, the miners need to create a "currency right" transaction, and the transaction will send some coins to the miners themselves according to the preset proportion. According to the proportion and time of token owned by each node, the equity proof mechanism reces the mining difficulty of nodes proportionally according to the algorithm, so as to speed up the speed of searching for random numbersextended materials:
the concept of bitcoin was first proposed by Nakamoto in 2009. According to Nakamoto's ideas, the open source software and the P2P network on it were designed and released. Bitcoin is a kind of P2P digital currency. Point to point transmission means a decentralized payment system
unlike most currencies, bitcoin does not rely on specific currency institutions. It is generated by a large number of calculations based on specific algorithms. Bitcoin economy uses the distributed database composed of many nodes in the whole P2P network to confirm and record all transactions, and uses the design of cryptography to ensure the security of all aspects of currency circulation. The decentralized nature and algorithm of P2P can ensure that it is impossible to artificially manipulate the value of bitcoin through mass proction
e to the high network delay in peer-to-peer network, the transaction order observed by each node can not be completely consistent. Therefore, the blockchain system needs to design a mechanism to reach a consensus on the sequence of transactions that occur in the same time. This algorithm to reach consensus on the order of transactions in a time window is called consensus mechanism
-- chainknow
1. POW workload proof, which is familiar with mining, calculates a random number that meets the rules through and or operation, that is, obtains the bookkeeping right, sends out the data that needs to be recorded in this round, and stores it together with other nodes in the whole network after verification
advantages: complete decentralization, free access of nodes
disadvantages: bitcoin has attracted most of the computing power in the world, and other blockchain applications using POW consensus mechanism are difficult to obtain the same computing power to ensure their own security; Mining causes a lot of waste of resources; The period of reaching consensus is long, which is not suitable for commercial application.
2. Proof of rights and interests of POS, a mechanism of upgrading consensus of pow; According to the token proportion and time of each node; It can rece the difficulty of mining in equal proportion, so as to speed up the speed of finding random numbers< Advantages: to a certain extent, it shortens the time to reach a consensus
disadvantages: mining is still needed, which does not solve the pain point of commercial application in essence
3. Dpos share authorization certification mechanism is similar to the voting of the board of directors, in which the coin holders cast a certain number of nodes to verify and account on their behalf
advantages: greatly rece the number of participating verification and accounting nodes, which can achieve second level consensus verification
disadvantages: the whole consensus mechanism still depends on token, and many commercial applications do not need token to exist
4. Pool verification pool, which is based on traditional distributed consistency technology and data verification mechanism; It is a consensus mechanism widely used in the instry chain at present.
advantages: it can work without token, and realizes second level consensus verification on the basis of mature distributed consistency algorithms (pasox and raft)
disadvantages: the degree of decentralization is not as good as that of bictin; The multi center business model is more suitable for multi-party participation
it has great advantages in using consensus mechanism to ensure data consistency (the consensus mechanism is first proposed by ripple, and the network transaction synchronization mechanism with data correctness priority. In the consensus network, no matter how the software code changes, if you can't reach a consensus, you can't enter the network, let alone fork)
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PS: a little black, although the consensus mechanism can absolutely ensure that there will be no hard bifurcation at any time. However, the disadvantage of this mechanism is obvious, that is, it is much longer than the current bitcoin network to reach a consensus with other nodes. In extreme cases, the consequences of disconnection in ripple consensus mechanism network are also very terrible
it is possible that one day after the power failure in your home, the whole system will no longer be able to reach a consensus with other rippled nodes (in fact, the consensus mechanism requires more than 80% of the nodes to acknowledge your data before your submission will be accepted by other nodes, otherwise it will be rejected by exclusive nodes), Even you can only empty all your 500 GB data and resynchronize to connect to other ripple nodes
so at present, the existing rippled end is not suitable for civil use (if it is commercial, the impact is relatively small. For example, RL's own rippled node is hosted in Amazon cloud data center. If it has no response for a long time, it can make high claims, and there is almost no break in that place except for large disasters). This is one of the aspects RL has always wanted to improve.
after Ethereum is upgraded to version 2.0 POS mechanism, miners may switch mining machines to other networks
as Ethereum is finally ready to start its Ethereum 2.0 upgrade later this year, thus eliminating the long-term delay, the network will start to move towards the proof of rights model
therefore, the network will give up the workload proof consensus algorithm, so that eth miners have little choice. As their equipment will become obsolete, they will be forced to start mining counterfeit coins or re qualify as eth mortgagors. So, what is the current situation of Ethereum mining? With the coming transition, what will happen to the whole instry< At present, Ethereum consensus is based on POW system, which is similar to bitcoin (BTC). As a result, Ethereum's mining process is almost the same, as miners use their computing resources to earn rewards for each block they try to complete< However, there are still major differences between these processes. Although bitcoin mining has relied almost entirely on ASIC (large, loud machines designed specifically for cryptocurrency mining, most of which are concentrated in areas with low electricity prices), Ethereum's pow hash algorithm ethash is designed to support global chip manufacturers (such as NVIDIA and AMD). As Thomas Heller, global business director of cryptocurrency mining pool f2pool, explained in a conversation with cointegraph, GPU is much cheaper and easier to access than ASIC
"as ASIC is a very professional machine, when a new generation of procts is released, it is usually a huge technological leap. As a result, they have a much higher hash rate and are more energy efficient than the previous generation. This means that those manufacturers have spent a lot of money to research and develop it. Their machines are usually very expensive, and GPUs are much cheaper. "
Heller added that those who use GPU miners "have more flexibility to mine." For example, the popular NVIDIA geforce GTX 1080 Ti card can mine more than 15 different currencies, while ASIC units usually support only one currency
nevertheless, Ethereum is not completely immune to ASIC miners - at least in its current state. In April 2018, bitcontinent released antminer E3, an ASIC specially proced for mining Ethereum. Although widely praised for its hash rate of 180 megahashes per second and power consumption of 800 watts, it has received different responses from the Ethereum community. After the ASIC is inserted, a considerable number of GPU rig owners seem to suffer from loss of profits, and some are even forced to switch to other networks
"in the white paper, ETH must have ASIC resistance. I would like to say that the white paper stands for something "is one of the highest comments on the AR / ethermining topic about the topic discussed when antminer E3 was announced. Another reddit user argued that "the $800 only applies to 180mh."“ Split or die of a nation. "
some Ethereum users continue to suggest that bitmain's mining devices can lead to greater concentration, thus increasing the possibility of attack by 51%. Soon, a group of developers put forward "programmed workload proof" or progpow, which is an extension of the current Ethereum algorithm ethash, aiming to make GPU more competitive and promote decentralization
according to a paper published in March by Kristy Leigh Minehan, co-founder of progpow, about 40% of the hash rate of Ethereum is generated by bitmain ASIC. Alejandro de la Torre, the vice president of poolin, is the sixth largest pool of eth. He confirmed to cointegration that "GPU mining is still dominant" in Ethereum network, and added:
"at present, the profit of eth mining is not high, and the management threshold and cost of GPU equipment are higher than ASIC equipment. Compared with ASIC devices, GPU devices are more flexible, and you can use other algorithms to switch to other coins. "
progpow has not been integrated into Ethereum, and it is not clear when it will be finally implemented - in March, Ethereum core developers were debating whether progpow will really benefit the network in nearly two hours, and failed to reach a consensus. It is worth noting that a bitmain representative has previously told cointegraph that the mining hardware giant does not intend to extend the service life of antminer E3 to start operation after October 2020: "as far as we know, mining will end in October or some time after that."
a safe but uncertain future
indeed, Ethereum will stay away from mining in the future. Ethereum 2.0, which is planned to be launched later in 2020, is a major network upgrade on the blockchain, aiming to transfer its current POW consensus algorithm to a virtual POS (known as "block verifier")
more specifically, users are randomly selected considering their wealth in the network or their "interests". In other words, the more coins a POS verifier chooses to put in, the more coins accumulated as a reward
according to vitalik buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, e to the transition, the network will be more secure and the attack cost will be higher than the network of bitcoin, although the debate about the better consensus algorithm in the encryption community has lasted for many years. However, it is not clear when to start Ethereum 2.0, as many errors and management issues are reported to be delaying the process
another hypothetical benefit of POS system is that it has higher energy efficiency than pow blockchain. According to digiconomist, the cryptocurrency's total annual footprint is 59.31 terawatts per hour, which is comparable to the electricity consumption of Greece as a whole. However, since a report in July 2019 estimated that 74% of the exploitation of bitcoin was done using renewable energy, the environmental impact of bitcoin does not seem to be so serious
what will happen to the actual Ethereum miner? According to the documentation of Casper upgrade as part of Ethereum 2.0 roadmap, the network will initially support a hybrid model including both POW and POS, thus providing some space for block verifiers and GPU / ASIC miners. Jack O & 39, CEO of skale network; "There will definitely be a transition period when two networks are running at the same time," Holleran told cointegration The CEO of scale network (based on Ethereum's blockchain platform) gave a detailed description of this process:
"the transition from eth1 to eth2 takes time of course - it may be years rather than months. The good news about this slow transition is that dapps and defi platforms will be able to roam around based on survivability, security and real-world evidence of adoption. This is a positive impact on the Ethereum ecosystem. "
dig or not
once Ethereum is fully in the POS orbit, miners will have two options. One is to sell the equipment and use the money to accumulate more Eth and start mortgage. The other is the choice for GPU miners, which is simply switching to other ethash networks and mining counterfeit money. Nick foster, a representative of kabombacks, a US mining equipment dealer, told cointegration that most eth miners would choose the latter:
"what I want to say is that most of the miners have not really entered Ethereum or the mining of specific tokens. Yes, there is a certain amount of mineral deposits and holds, but I oppose the view that a large number of Shanzhai coin miners hold their coins at any time. "<
foster then described how he used 3gb GPU units to mine ethash's point-to-point blockchain asset ravencoin (RVN). Once it was unable to mine eth, he said, "this is the reason for mining crows. I immediately sold stability to BTC, and then sold it to US dollars to pay for my rights. I would say that a lot of people are adopting this strategy. "
as foster concludes, he wants eth miners to jump out of the network, and new players - those who don't invest in power infrastructure or drilling rigs - will take a stake in eth. He described the following:
"I can't imagine if I found a five-year lease with $0.04 of electricity and I was mining eth, I decided to sell everything and then continue to pay the rent so that I could hold eth as a share. Substitute. "
Marc fresa, founder of asic.to, a mining firmware company, agreed in a conversation with cointegraph: "if you invest in mining, you won't bet because you have enough room to grow."
one of the main counterfeit coins that may benefit from POW miners leaving Ethereum is Ethereum classic (etc), which is a more conservative version of the blockchain. It is reported that there is no POS related plan. As it also runs on the ethash algorithm, the startup of Ethereum 2.0 may lead to the migration of miners, so its hash rate may have a significant peak
eth's larger pools have similar options. When asked about the company's plans for Ethereum after pow, Heller told cointegraph that after the announcement of Ethereum's POS upgrade, f2pool launched a sister company called story.fish in early 2018. Story.fish has started to provide mortgage services for other POS and delegated POS projects, such as tezos (xtz), Cosmos (atom) and Cardano (ADA), e to numerous handover delays. For prin, e to the transition to POS, it "may temporarily give up supporting eth mining," de la Torre told cointegraph
other top eth pools, namely nanopool, ethermine, pool center, sparkpool and spiderpool, did not respond to requests for comment from cointegraph.
address: No.19, xitaikang Road, Jinshui District, Zhengzhou City
Jiefang Road Station on the second road - bus stop
passing buses: 67, B12, K802, k804, k808, k811, y807
Bus line: Metro Line 1, about 5.0km in total distance
1. Walk 790m from Zhengzhou Central Hospital to Tong Road Station
2. Take Metro Line 1, pass 3 stops, reach Medical College Station
3, walk 950m, reach Zhengzhou book purchasing center
bus line: Metro Line 1 → y804, about 5.4km in total distance
1 Walk about 790 meters from Zhengzhou Central Hospital to Tong Road Station
2, take subway line 1, pass 3 stops to Medical College Station
3, walk about 350 meters to Zhongyuan Road University Road Station
4, take y804 Road, pass 1 stop to university road Taoyuan Road Station
5, walk about 50 meters to Zhengzhou book shopping center