Read_438 - Blockchain Proof of Work is a Decentralized Clock [grisha]

September 10, 2020 00:49:38
Read_438 - Blockchain Proof of Work is a Decentralized Clock [grisha]
Bitcoin Audible
Read_438 - Blockchain Proof of Work is a Decentralized Clock [grisha]

Sep 10 2020 | 00:49:38

/

Hosted By

Guy Swann

Show Notes

"This explanation rests on illustrating a few interesting properties of how Proof-of-Work is used in the blockchain that are not immediately obvious and sometimes are rather counter-intuitive, for example how participants collectively solve a problem without ever communicating." - grisha

While we incessantly focus on the side-effects of the proof-of-work system in Bitcoin, the security it attributes to the Bitcoin history, the incentive structure it enables, etc, we can often forget the reason Satoshi himself stated for its use: to enable a distributed timestamp server. i.e. a decentralized clock.

An epic piece from @humblehack posted back in January 2018 on his blog at grisha.org. Check out the original and many other works at the link below:
https://grisha.org/blog/2018/01/23/explaining-proof-of-work/

Other great reads to dig further into the concepts:
The Drunkard's Walk: https://amzn.to/2Mzzr2K
Fooled By Randomness: https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Incerto/dp/0812975219/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=fooled+by+randomness&qid=1599781258&s=books&sr=1-1
Bitcoin Astronomy: https://anchor.fm/thecryptoconomy/episodes/CryptoQuikRead_303---Bitcoin-Astronomy-Part-1---Dhruv-Bansal-e6eqo5

Thanks to Marty & Chris from TFTC for bringing this to my attention again:
Episode 188: https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt/episodes/188-Chris-Bendiksen-ein7nj

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bitcoinaudible/message

Other Episodes

Episode

January 23, 2024 01:44:07
Episode Cover

Chat_090 - The Danger of Being Right Too Early with Devon Eriksen

Sometimes in life and the course of history, there are moments where simply stating the truth, in a clear and understandable way, can stir...

Listen

Episode

July 22, 2019 00:35:20
Episode Cover

CryptoQuikRead_272 - Statechains, Sending Keys Not Coins [Aaron Van Wirdum]

From Bitcoin Magazine, today we read Aaron's piece on the recently conceptualized "Statechains" from the mind of Ruben Somsen. An entirely different way to...

Listen

Episode

January 29, 2025 00:58:24
Episode Cover

Read_866 - Island Economics: Why Exploitation & Perpetual Wars are Rational Under FIAT

What if exploitation and war weren't merely anomalies of human society, but there was something inherent to the incentives of the fiat system, that...

Listen