Israel-based cryptocurrency start-up Spacemesh has recently announced it plans to build a new and improved “blockmesh operating system,” and has already raised $3,000,000 in seed funding to help it achieve this end.
Focused on refining and revamping how blockchains reach consensus, Spacemesh believes that its ‘proof-of-space-time’ protocol could replace proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS) processes, which most cryptocurrencies use to secure their networks, entirely.
Arguably the most interesting feature of proof-of-space-time is its alleged ability to run on any desktop computer. Claiming it to be resistant to even the costliest and most powerful of mining chips, Spacemesh has suggested that the protocol won’t need to rely on graphics processing units (GPUs) either.
According to Spacemesh’s team, the protocol will offer rewards that ought to deter miners from joining mining pools. It is hoped that in doing so, the end result will be a peer-to-peer, fully decentralized cryptocurrency.
As researchers explain:
“Compared to a proof-of-work, a PoST requires less energy use, as the “difficulty” can be increased by extending the time period over which data is stored without increasing computation costs. Our definition is very similar to “Proofs of Space” [ePrint 2013/796, 2013/805] but, unlike the previous definitions, takes into account amortization attacks and storage duration.”
It is believed that this will help to avoid one of the major problems with existing consensus protocols: that miners are largely profit-driven, and frequently priorities their own interests over those of the blockchain.
Watching from the sidelines, spectators, investors, and commentators alike can only wait and see whether these claims prove themselves to be true – and imagine the potential implications of what such a vision would look like in reality.
