I'll give it a try, but I'm by no means an expert in cryptography. Proof-of-work works (very broadly) by computers solving harder and harder math problems to c

I'll give it a try, but I'm by no means an expert in cryptography. Proof-of-work works (very broadly) by computers solving harder and harder math problems to create value. Eventually, these get so hard that solving one requires either joining a pool or a huge investment in electricity and mining rigs - which is where we're at now. This isn't good for the environment. Proof-of-stake works by individuals "staking" some of their own coins to be more likely to be randomly chosen to "validate" a transaction (which earns them a reward, similar to hashing). Validating a transaction is trivial and uses very little electricity, but the rest of the network also checking the transaction keeps the validator honest. While proof-of-work and proof-of-stake are both a kind of "the rich get richer" game, to get more coins in proof-of-stake all that's required is a greater investment into the network, as opposed to the mining rigs and large amounts of electricity that are required by proof-of-work. I found this video to be helpful in visualizing the networking parts of proof-of-stake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3EFi_POhps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3EFi_POhps