in any event i think the op is wrong in terms of the hard part of proof of stake, private mining attacks are solvable. the stickier issues are around maintaini

in any event i think the op is wrong in terms of the hard part of proof of stake, private mining attacks are solvable. the stickier issues are around maintaining the decentralized nature of pow mining and the random and decentralized election of who mines the next block. under pow, everybody does their own thing and when someone finds a block they are able to publish it without direct collaboration with other miners. the fact that the miner is chosen at random gives rise to all sorts of anti-censorship and anti-collusional properties. proof of stake will have to emulate this, and possibly make a few targeted and carefully chosen compromises in order to emulate the decentralized nature of pow mining. it's not obvious how this will play out, but i don't think it's impossible and efforts to do so certainly aren't a "scam."