Seonglae ChoProof of Work (PoW)
Proof of Work (PoW) is one of Satoshi Nakamoto's most significant achievements - a consensus protocol that enables agreement across a distributed network.
Core Concepts
- Mining Process
- Miners compete to solve complex mathematical problems using computational power
- Solutions are verified through SHA256 hashing algorithm
- Block creation takes approximately 10 minutes by design
- Rewards System
- Miners receive newly minted bitcoins and transaction fees as rewards
- After all bitcoins are mined, rewards will consist solely of transaction fees
Technical Implementation
The mining process involves finding a Nonce value that produces a hash lower than the target difficulty. This is represented by the formula:
- D: Difficulty level
- M: Maximum target value (2²⁵⁶-1)
- N: Nonce value
Security Features
PoW provides robust security through several mechanisms:
- Full node verification requires maintaining complete blockchain history
- Tamper-resistant due to computational requirements
- Uses longest chain rule to resolve conflicts and maintain consensus
Limitations
Despite its strengths, PoW has some inherent challenges:
- Network propagation delays are unavoidable in P2P systems
- Fork resolution relies on longest chain rule
- High computational resource requirements
