On 27/11/17 08:21 AM, Alan Sondheim wrote: > > One question and query - > > Who establishes the difficult algorithms miners solve? Are they > themselves generated within the blockchain? Is there a group that has > control over this? The original Bitcoin difficulty adjustment algorithm was created by Satoshi Nakamoto. Its is part of the C++ code of the Bitcoin client software, so it exists outside the blockchain. Its stated objective is to keep Bitcoin creating blocks of transactions roughly every ten minutes. So the Bitcoin blockchain's ever-increasing energy consumption is a result of the difficulty adjustment algorithm being a paperclipper about targeting block time.
Changing the difficulty algorithm requires changing the Bitcoin software source code. If that change is incompatible with the rest of the Bitcoin network, clients running the modified software will form their own rival network and start working on a separate "fork" of the blockchain. The most notable fork of the Bitcoin software/network/blockchain at the moment is "Bitcoin Cash", which explicitly includes a different difficulty adjustment algorithm. Other chains also have forks over their consensus rules, notably Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. There have been experiments with putting the difficulty algorithm on the blockchain. Eris did it at one point I think, and there was discussion of this for Ethereum network but I don't think anything came of it (although it does have "The Difficulty Bomb" to eventually enforce a switch from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake). Decred, which I mentioned in my last email to the list, makes voting on the parameters and code of the difficulty algorithm part of the governance system built into the software. So control is usually with the software developers and embedded in the code, although the developers lose the trust of the miners and of the users another fork will pick them up, and there are experiments around moving things on chain but that's not really happening yet. > And a blockchain for cultural projects - > > I wonder if it would be possible to establish an anti-currency, a > blockchain with easy mining solutions? For example, 2 50-digit numbers > multiplied? Does that make any sense? So that the currency built upon it > might stay worthless? But it could be used for cultural work, and would > still be stable? Cryptocurrencies usually pay for the operation and securing of their networks in their own currency, so making it worthless won't incentivise people to do that. But there are systems like Hyperledger Fabric or Tendermint that we could use to create such a network. Or if we accept "almost worthless", we could use one of the faster/easier/cheaper networks like Dogecoin (it's still going! :-D ). What kind of work would you use it for? - Rob. _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
