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EPFL Researchers Invent Low-Cost Alternative to Bitcoin:
The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is limited by its astronomical electricity consumption and outsized carbon footprint. A nearly zero-energy alternative sounds too good to be true, but as School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) Professor Rachid Guerraoui explains, it all comes down to our understanding of what makes transactions secure.
To explain why the system developed in his Distributed Computing Lab (DCL) represents a paradigm shift in how we think about cryptocurrencies -- and about digital trust in general -- Professor Rachid Guerraoui uses a legal metaphor: all players in this new system are "innocent until proven guilty."
This is in contrast to the traditional Bitcoin model first described in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, which relies on solving a difficult problem called "consensus" to guarantee the security of transactions. In this model, everyone in a distributed system must agree on the validity of all transactions to prevent malicious players from cheating -- for example, by spending the same digital tokens twice (double-spending). In order to prove their honesty and achieve consensus, players must execute complex -- and energy-intensive -- computing tasks that are then verified by the other players.
But in their new system, Guerraoui and his colleagues flip the assumption that all players are potential cheaters on its head.
What do you guys think? Will this replace Bitcoin?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @10:43PM (4 children)
... around the same time you can buy unicorn burgers at MacDonalds.
This stupid researcher assumes that people can be trusted. Within 30 minutes of this, currency's launch, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will own all the coins and this dingbat researcher will be sent to Guatanamo Bay.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Monday September 30 2019, @10:47PM
I've invented an even lower-cost alternative to Bitcoin. I'll post details of the ICO as soon as I can set up a funding web site for it, and y'all can donate^H^H^Hinvest in it.
PS: This is not a scam!
(Score: 4, Touché) by maxwell demon on Tuesday October 01 2019, @04:25AM
Actually, I have an even simpler scheme that doesn't even need a computer. I call it braincoins, because it can all be done in your brain.
It works as follows: If you want to buy something that, for example, costs 30 braincoins, I just tell the seller: "I'm giving you thirty braincoins" and remember that I now have 30 braincoins less. The seller in turn remembers that he has30 braincoins more.
Of course this relies on the seller to trust me that I really have those braincoins. Although, thinking again, he doesn't really have to, as he'll increase his amount of braincoins anyway. So in the end this indeed is a zero-trust scheme!
Even better, you can simply omit any talk about money transfer; all you need is that both parties know about the amount. So the whole buying process can be as simple as:
Buyer: "How much does this cost?"
Seller: "30 Braincoins."
Buyer: "Great, I'll buy it."
Seller gives buyer the item.
That's even easier than traditional cash! And certainly more anonymous than anything the cryptocurrency people have ever invented!
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 01 2019, @02:29PM
A more gooder idea: An executive order declaring that tree leaves are the new legal tender. They are self growing, saving lots of ink and paper. What could go wrong?
McUnicorn burgers better be free range unicorns.
Also apologies to Douglas Adams.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 01 2019, @03:38PM
I think an example can illustrate how this happens.
Joe 1 is trusted by everyone. He double pays on large payments and disappears. While some of the goods and services can be recovered, some can't. So Joe 1 has benefited by the trades and now can't be punished by the collective market.
A few days later, Joe 2 appears. He's trusted by everyone...
As long as defection is punished more than its gains, you can have a viable system based on initial trust. But with money, because of how fluid it is and how easy it is to enter and leave such markets, one can easily find scams that break this.