I'm not familiar with the details of bitcoin, but in that case aren't (some of) the inputs to the function hidden not the function itself. Proof of work techni

I'm not familiar with the details of bitcoin, but in that case aren't (some of) the inputs to the function hidden not the function itself. Proof of work techniques are relying on forcing the other party to run a known function in order to prevent various attacks. If the other party can't verify the result they would be no use.