- class of consensus mechanism used in blockchains
- computational power which secure creation of new valid blocks
- unlike proof of stake
- which relies on vested staking to assign validation rights
- pow relies on computational power to solve complex mathematical problems
- miners compete to solve these problems
- with the first one to solve it earning the right to validate transactions and create a new block
- method aims to secure the network through computational difficulty and resource expenditure
- pros
- security
- relies on the nakamoto consensus with an honest majority assumption of 51%
- making it difficult and costly to attack the network
- decentralization
- enables anyone with computational resources to participate
- without the need for holding a significant amount of tokens
- fairness
- allows the network to start from 0 token supply
- ensuring identical rules for all participants throughout the network’s lifetime
- accessibility
- enables minting tokens through computational effort
- acting as a transmuter to bypass the existing financial system for onboarding
- cons
- energy efficiency
- significantly increases energy consumption
- due to the need for extensive computational power
- scalability
- handles lower transaction volumes less efficiently
- making it less suitable for large-scale blockchain networks
- proof of work is implemented in token of leading blockchain