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How Monero’s proof of work works

277 points by alcazar

by dgacmu

7 subcomments

If folks are interested in the old Monero PoW function (and, uh, the reason they changed it), I wrote up a thing about it a long time ago:
https://da-data.blogspot.com/2014/08/minting-money-with-mone...
The history of people trying to design GPU or ASIC-resistant proof-of-work functions is long and mostly unsuccessful. I haven't looked into RandomX; it's possible they've succeeded here (or possible that with the alt-coin market mining profitability tanking after Ethereum moved to proof-of-stake, it just wasn't worth it).

by snthpy

1 subcomments

As PoW goes, this is cool.
One thing I didn't understand though is Light mode:
> Fast mode is for mining. Light mode is for verification. The reference README says
The post only describes Fast mode, right?
Presumably verification is done by miners who already have the memory set up so Fast mode would be faster for them.
Verification is still relatively fast because you don't have to try gazillions of nonces so who is Light mode necessary and how does it work?

by CuriousRose

1 subcomments

In terms of software that genuinely fascinates me Monero would have to be up there (along with Postgres, ZFS and OpenBSD). It's in my opinion one of the only (but probably the only) cryptos that has actually held true in terms of its principles of privacy (which was a perceived principle of crypto by users) and mass ability to mine and not be dominated by ASICs.
I've since taken to running a non-public Monero node, which will become public when I can ensure my network security as it's being run from my home.
In saying that, there is a lot of concern around the new Carrot changes. To preface, I don't understand it enough to have an opinion either way, but a good chunk of the vocal user base seems to be worried that making “optional” view keys show both incoming and outgoing transactions will force the hand of the remaining exchanges, and be a condition of adoption of new exchanges to support Monero.
I haven't really seen a dumbed down explanation from the core Monero team as to exactly what the change looks like, and what the theoretical implications could be. It would be nice if Monero had more accessible PR for non-technical users to encourage adoption and squash FUD when it arises or at least acknowledge it from a top level in a blog post or something so that the already hyper-paranoid user base doesn't unnecessarily drive a mass anti-Monero campaign.

by hyc_symas

1 subcomments

I walked through the design at Monerokon in 2019 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hkd-n1W_e4

by j4cobgarby

19 subcomments

I never quite understand this stuff, maybe someone can help.
Are cryptocurrencies supposed to be a potential replacement for real life cash? This was my understanding of the motivation behind Bitcoin, at least.
If so, why does it make sense that people can "generate" cash by proving some amount of work done? This of course cannot be done with normal cash.
Is the main functionality of these cryptocurrencies supposed to be "people can send currency to each other", or "people generate currency -- a number -- and sell this currency for real life money"?

0 subcomment

by KolmogorovComp

1 subcomments

The article skip over the results? Did the design succeeded? Which hardware do miner uses, and is it evenly distributed? Can I mine Monero on potato hardware?

by OsrsNeedsf2P

3 subcomments

Can someone explain to me why RandomX miners don't just generate programs without branching? I'm a bit confused on why that's not possible

by user3939382

0 subcomment

Proof of waste. I wonder for the base price of the currency what the cost of energy and environment are to create it.

by kerkeslager

4 subcomments

Side question: what's the least scammy and complicated way to buy Monero these days?

by residentzero

0 subcomment

RandomX has some interesting use cases beyond Monero
RandomX in Javascript (web mining?)
https://github.com/l1mey112/randomx.js/
Bitcoin with RandomX (agentic cash?)
https://scashnetwork.org/
https://miningpoolstats.stream/satoshicash

by tomjen3

2 subcomments

I had hoped this would describe a system that did not use very large amounts of power. Sadly it does.

by legalmoneytalk

0 subcomment

[flagged]

by cawksuwcka

0 subcomment

[dead]

by add-sub-mul-div

0 subcomment

[flagged]

by Aeroi

11 subcomments

[flagged]

by NooneAtAll3

1 subcomments

ugh, "GiB"
author sold his soul to marketmen

by nmz

0 subcomment

So many people here know how bitcoin works but don't know that it doesn't.
It is hilarious.