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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: 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.