Two of the researchers in a paper is shared, is called the Optical Proof-of-Work. Herein, they describe a mining algorithm that makes mining of bitcoin is less and less dependent on low energy costs. The power consumption could, in theory, by a factor of 10 to 100 lower need to take. For this you will need to ensure that the miners are no longer as centralized in a China sit on.
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Downward direction, the strategic orientations of the miners
Then, the bitcoin bullrun by the end of 2017, abruptly came to an end, decreased its value in just a couple of days of more than 16 000 € less than € 8,000.
However, when the value of a Bitcoin went down, something strange happened. The hashrate on the network of bitcoin continued to increase. The reason for this? In spite of the impairment losses was the mining of a bitcoin is still profitable. In other words, the costs of mining are lower than the value of the coins which, as a result of these. The costs of the course aims to reduce the energy price and the price of the hardware).
This went on for a while, all the way up to november of 2018. Then, it decreased to a value of € 3,000. For many miners, this was the last straw. Plots were of bitcoins is no longer worth it at all costs, and put many of mine. The computing power of the bitcoin network and sank down to the ground, out of the 60 exa-hashes / s, at 35.
The risk of China’s
The effect of the crash is still being felt. Before the share price fell to € 3,000, were the miners to be geographically well-distributed. Because of this, no country or region requires a disproportionate amount of influence. However, after the crash, it was mine, only profitable in areas where cheap energy is available. At this point, most of the miners in the western part of China, and we are fortunate that mine is not banned in China, even though it was there for a long period of time, however, to speak of.
But, despite the fact that mining is not prohibited in China, and it has a huge negative attitude towards bitcoin and other cryptocurrency’s. And the fact is that the vast majority of the miners are Chinese, and the production, so it is somewhat centralized, it can be a threat to bitcoin.
The Optical Proof-of-Work
Michael Dubrovsky, of Columbia University, New York, and Bogdan Penkovsky, of the university of Paris, france, write in their paper (PDF) that they think they have a solution for you to have it. They were investigating ways to get proof-of-work’s dependency on the energy consumption, and therefore who has the cheapest energy that can be obtained. And that’s without the computing power to the users. Also, very important, the idea is to implement, through an INTERNET, and does not require a hard fork.
The secret is very simple: instead of regular chips to use to get the correct hash value to be recommended to make use of an optical computer (also called a photonisch to work on. The researchers claim that these computers have a lot less energy is used, and the calculations behind the bitcoin mining on a fundamental change.
Curious to see what is optical computing? Check out this video of a Singularity Frontier.
The development of optical computers
In order to achieve this, they have a custom encryption protocol is devised, which is called HeavyHash, especially for optical computing. The researchers have to rely on the forces of the market. ‘Optical ‘ Proof of Work’ is, according to the researchers, the adoption and development of photonische chips, and as a result, the power consumption of the bitcoin is drastically reduced.
At the time, the price of energy is no longer the most important aspect to consider is about the cost of the hardware to write Dubrovsky. And it has the additional positive effect that the miners are profitable at other locations than where the energy is low-cost (read: China).
Questions about the
The theory seems to be correct, but there are still a few glitches. How energy efficient are photonische the chips are really, in practice, it is not yet clear. In practice, you’ll see that a bitcoin is in constant scale, and the effect it has on the Optical Proof-of-Work, it is not yet determined by the investigators.
And, perhaps most importantly, though, the idea is good, it is not clear as to how the Optical Proof-of-Work, in the long term, make sure that the regional differences in the price of energy is not important. Assume that everyone has stepped up on the use of the proposed computers, and then there comes a time when the cost of all of the hardware is the same for all the miners. And then it was a race for cheaper energy.
From ten to a hundred times less power
Dubrovsky tells The that they will later go into these points in a future paper in which a detailed model is described below. They would like to be a part of the veil of light, ‘a grown-Optical Proof-of-Work, the network will spend between ten and one hundred times more energy.”
Energy costs, according to the researchers, is always of importance, but the impact can be minimized. As the main cost of the investment in the machines. energy costs are a much smaller role to play, as opposed to what it is today, the cost of capital, and operational risk, which is more important. Stable countries with clear rules and low interest rates will do more than the Optical Proof-of-Work miners it.”
The conclusion, therefore, is that China and Russia, so sidelined it.