The Technology
Blockchain networks comprise a community of computing nodes constructed to manage and maintain blockchains and are deployed to facilitate distributed ledgers for a plurality of uses and applications. The distributed ledgers stored simultaneously by a plurality untested community members may be constantly and transparently updated to record transactions made in the blockchain network. Having no trusted central control, trust becomes a major concern for the community members since the computing nodes are unfamiliar with each other. In order to overcome the trust hurdle and enable the community of untested members to reach consensus, a plurality of trust and consensus protocols have been introduced.
A blockchain needs a mechanism for forging new blocks. In some applications, there is a substantial financial incentive for the forger. Therefore, there is a competition to forge the new block. In the Bitcoin blockchain, this competition requires those wishing to forge a new block to invest significant computing and energy resources. Other mechanisms were proposed but have not gained sufficient popularity. This technology, proof of lottery (PoL), is substituting money for computing resources and energy and hence is environmentally friendly while preserving the necessity of a real investment (money) in competing for forging a new block. The underlying idea is to perform a distributed lottery, based on the content of the blockchain, wherein parties wishing to forge a new block place lottery tickets, that cost real money or crypto-money, on the blockchain. The more lottery tickets a party places on the blockchain, the higher the chances it will be selected to forge a new block.
Advantages
- The PoL requires very little computation resources, thus significantly reducing consumed resources, as compared to the most prominent existing blockchain algorithms
- PoL is environment-friendly, as the energy investment is significantly low
- PoL is highly robust and significantly immune to many forms of malicious attacks initiated by malicious parties
- PoL may provide a capability for other embodiments, or carried out in various ways
Applications and Opportunities
- Cryptocurrency, smart contracts, activity tracking, distributed databases, etc
- May be embodied as a system, method or computer program product, including: hardware, software (firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) and a combination of software and hardware
Business Development Contacts