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> Hyperledger says something like you can use whatever consensus mechanism you want but in practice there is not a real alternative to proof of work With the l
by lima 8y ago
> Hyperledger says something like you can use whatever consensus mechanism you want but in practice there is not a real alternative to proof of work
With the latest crop of PBFT consensus algorithms (notably Tendermint/Cosmos), proof-of-stake is shaping up to be a real alternative. Though I'm a bit worried about the inherent complexity.
- cobookman 8y agoIf a blockchain has a market cap of 1 billion USD, and uses proof of stake...then someone with <=500M of capital could mess with the chains data. It's already being done to smaller proof of work chains. So in this regard you have similar issues.
- rcxdude 8y agoThis is actually worse for proof-of-work chains, though. The cost of a 50% attack on most cryptocurrencies (including bitcoin!) is much less than half the market cap. The main thing which keeps such attacks from happening is that they are hard enough to profit from (it's quite hard to double-spend enough) while being expensive enough to that such an attack is a very risky and almost certainly unprofitable endeavour.
- dnautics 8y agoNot only is it hard to double spend, but if your double spend is found, the liquidation value is likely to plummet from under you in or before the process of attempting to realize the theft.