{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1","title":"Stephen Ajulu","home_page_url":"https://ajulu.netlify.app/","feed_url":"https://ajulu.netlify.app/tags/pow/feed.json","description":"Hello, I'm Stephen Ajulu, a seasoned multidisciplinary tech professional with over a decade of experience. I build impactful solutions using design, tech, and engineering in the pursuit of impact.","icon":"https://ajulu.netlify.app/images/me.jpg","authors":[{"name":"Stephen Ajulu","url":"https://stephenajulu.com","avatar":"https://ajulu.netlify.app/images/me.jpg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ajulu.netlify.app/posts/what-is-proof-of-work/","url":"https://ajulu.netlify.app/posts/what-is-proof-of-work/","title":"What is Proof of Work?","summary":"Proof-of-work is the algorithm that secures many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Most digital currencies have a central entity or leader keeping track of every user and how much money they have. But there’s no such leader in charge of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Proof-of-work is needed to make the online currency work without a company or government running the show.\nMore specifically proof-of-work solves the \u0026ldquo;double-spending problem,\u0026rdquo; which is trickier to solve without a leader in charge. If users can double-spend their coins, this inflates the overall supply, debasing everyone else\u0026rsquo;s coins and making the currency unpredictable and worthless.\n","content_html":"\u003cp\u003eProof-of-work is the algorithm that secures many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Most digital currencies have a central entity or leader keeping track of every user and how much money they have. But there’s no such leader in charge of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Proof-of-work is needed to make the online currency work without a company or government running the show.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore specifically proof-of-work solves the \u0026ldquo;double-spending problem,\u0026rdquo; which is trickier to solve without a leader in charge. If users can double-spend their coins, this inflates the overall supply, debasing everyone else\u0026rsquo;s coins and making the currency unpredictable and worthless.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDouble-spending is an issue for online transactions because digital actions are very easy to replicate, which is what makes it trivial to copy and paste a file or send an email to more than one person.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProof-of-work makes doubling digital money very, very hard. It\u0026rsquo;s much what it sounds like \u0026ldquo;proof\u0026rdquo; that someone has done a significant amount of computations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"how-proof-of-work-works\"\u003eHow proof-of-work works\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBitcoin is a \u003ca href=\"https://stephenajulu.com/blog/what-is-blockchain-how-does-it-work-blockchain-explained/\"\u003eblockchain\u003c/a\u003e, which is a shared ledger that contains a history of every Bitcoin transaction that ever took place. This blockchain, as the name suggests, is composed of blocks. Each block has the most recent transactions stored in it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProof-of-work is a necessary part of adding new blocks to the Bitcoin blockchain. Blocks are summoned to life by miners, the players in the ecosystem who execute proof-of-work**.** A new block is accepted by the network each time a miner comes up with a new winning proof-of-work, which happens roughly every 10 minutes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinding the winning proof-of-work is so difficult the only way to provide the work miners need to win bitcoin is with expensive, specialized computers. Miners will earn bitcoin if they guess a matching computation. The more computations they churn out, the more bitcoin they are likely to earn.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat computations are the miners making exactly? In Bitcoin, miners spit out the so-called \u0026ldquo;hash,\u0026rdquo; which turns an input into a random-looking string of letters and numbers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe goal of the miners is to create a hash matching Bitcoin\u0026rsquo;s current \u0026ldquo;target.\u0026rdquo; They must create a hash with enough zeroes in front. The probability of getting several zeros in a row is very low. But miners across the world are making trillions of such computations a second, so it takes them about 10 minutes on average to hit this target.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhoever reaches the goal first wins a batch of the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Then the Bitcoin protocol creates a new value that miners must hash, and miners start the race for finding the winning proof-of-work all over again.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSource: \u003ca href=\"https://www.coindesk.com/learn/2020/12/16/what-is-proof-of-work/\"\u003eCoinDesk\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","date_published":"2021-12-09T12:10:00+03:00","image":"https://ajulu.netlify.app/images/webp-net-resizeimage.jpg","tags":["technology","bitcoin","ethereum","pow","proof of work","cryptocurrencies","crypto","cryptocurrency"]}]}