Time-Variant Proof-of-Work Using Error-Correction Codes

The protocol for cryptocurrencies can be divided into three parts, namely consensus, wallet, and networking overlay. The aim of the consensus part is to bring trustless rational peer-to-peer nodes to an agreement to the current status of the blockchain. The status must be updated through valid transactions. A proof-of-work (PoW) based consensus mechanism has been proven to be secure and robust owing to its simple rule and has served as a firm foundation for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Specialized mining devices have emerged, as rational miners aim to maximize profit, and caused two problems: i) the re-centralization of a mining market and ii) the huge energy spending in mining. In this paper, we aim to propose a new PoW called Error-Correction Codes PoW (ECCPoW) where the error-correction codes and their decoder can be utilized for PoW. In ECCPoW, puzzles can be intentionally generated to vary from block to block, leading to a time-variant puzzle generation mechanism. This mechanism is useful in repressing the emergence of the specialized mining devices. It can serve as a solution to the two problems of recentralization and energy spending.