What Is Delayed Proof of Work?

Consensus mechanisms are the backbone of the cryptocurrency industry, and over the years, different protocols, teams, and other bodies have come up with several variations of the technology. One variation is delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) which utilizes the power of PoW in a peculiar way.

What Is Delayed Proof of Work (dPow)?

To get a proper understanding of what delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) is, a proper understanding of what a consensus mechanism and its importance is the first step to take.

What Is a Consensus Mechanism?

A consensus mechanism is the backbone of every cryptocurrency project. It is the algorithm, protocol, or in some cases, other computer systems that verify and confirm transactions on the platform as well as being in charge of the government of the blockchain.

The system ensures that every verified transaction on the platform is properly recorded on the blockchain and that each of those transactions is present in every copy of the blockchain.

It also plays a vital role in determining the amount of network fees, the level of energy used, the transaction speed, and other details regarding the currency and applications of the network.

Delayed proof of work (dPoW)

This consensus machine took a step away from the norm. It is popularly referred to as a “hybrid consensus machine”. This is because it makes use of two blockchains to enhance the security of the protocol.

Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) functions by letting one blockchain hinge on the security made available through the hashing power of a secondary blockchain. It uses the hash rate of a Proof of Work (PoW) network outside the system and stacks it on top of an existing consensus mechanism.

This consensus mechanism operates with the primary blockchain based on dPoW while employing a proof of work (PoW) or a proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. In contrast, the secondary blockchain only requires a proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism.

dPoW was initially introduced to the industry by Komodo after they realized the issues with the PoW consensus mechanism. It sought to solve the problems without forsaking the processing speed of the system. This gave birth to the delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) consensus mechanism.

History of Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW)

The birth of delayed proof of work was spawned by the future security issues expected to face proof of work blockchains with lower hashing security levels. This fear gave birth to an idea to utilize BTC as a time-sequence server that allows cross-chain atomic swaps and increased altchain security. Furthermore, the idea was to utiliz Bitcoin’s hashing power to secure alternative blockchains that do not have as much hashing power.

Later, the idea evolved into delayed Proof of Work and made its first appearance in the crypto community in 2016. dPoW was the first code incorporated into the Komodo cryptocurrency project in 2016. The Komodo project was a Zcash fork that depended on record keeping through bitcoin’s blockchain to make its transactions inalterable.

How Does It Work?

Newly developed blockchains are prone to security breaches because of their little hash rate levels. This is because their blockchain needs to be more powerful to wave off the attacks, especially at their initial launch.

The delayed Proof of Work consensus fixes this problem by backing up a blockchain onto another blockchain with a much stronger hash power. Although it uses the same security as PoW, it eliminates the longest chain rule.

Source: The Cryptonomist

As an alternative to that rule, dPoW creates copies of the transaction history for chains as backups that are stored in a separate location from the main chain. This way, the chains can perform their operations efficiently and ideally without interfering with the normal functions of the blockchain.

Since there are two different blockchains, there is a small chance that two miners could validate the same block at the same time. In this situation, the most synchronized block in the network will be the winner.

Which Cryptocurrencies Have Adopted Delayed Proof of Work?

There have been a few projects that have adopted the dPoW consensus mechanism; one major project that adopted it is Komodo.

Komodo

The Komodo platform is a secure, open-sourced, end-to-end, decentralized blockchain developed for users to carry out transactions while maintaining complete anonymity. The brains behind the platform have kept true to the theme of the project by keeping its identity hidden, only being known by the alias JL777. The protocol was a fork from Zcash in 2014 and opted to use the delayed Proof of Work that it developed as the protocol’s consensus mechanism.

It is one of the few platforms that use Bitcoin’s hashing power. While the PoW consensus used by Bitcoin and the different consensus algorithms derived from it properly addressed the security issues in the initial encryption protocols, Komodo takes it to a new level with dPoW.

Komodo has a different approach to the “longest chain rule” in PoW, which is applied when a miner disagreement emerges on the blockchain. The blockchain resolves this issue in favor of the chain that has been running the longest. As a result, the PoW consensus is very effective but prone to the 51% attack suffered by new projects. This can be done by malicious parties, destroying the chain’s value.

This issue of PoW and other issues of some consensus algorithms are addressed by Komodo’s dPoW consensus, which utilizes backups to replace the PoW longest chain rule. These backups are then stored in a space separate from the operative chain.

Several platforms have called on Komodo as a service to secure their blockchain. Some of these include;

• SmartFi
• Pirate Chain
• Gleec
• Einsteinium and many others.

It’s worth noting that dPoW is not a widely used consensus algorithm and is not used by most cryptocurrencies. Most cryptocurrencies use other consensus algorithms, such as proof of stake (PoS) or delegated proof of stake (DPoS).

dPow vs. Other Consensus Mechanisms

dPoW was created as an update to the initial PoW consensus mechanism developed by the developers of Bitcoin. It is regularly compared to mainstream consensus mechanisms like Proof-of-work and Proof-of-stake.

dPoW vs. PoW

dPoW is a security mechanism, unlike PoW, which is a consensus mechanism. PoW uses the longest-chain rule, while dPoW makes it impossible for notarized blocks to be reorganized. One primary goal of PoW is to maintain the safety of networks by stopping cyberattacks like Distributed Denial-of-service attacks (DDoS).

dPoW is a security mechanism added to the standard PoW consensus algorithm. dPoW resets a blockchain’s consensus algorithm every time a block is notarized. dPoW does not use the longest chain rule for transactions that occur before the most recent backup on the network.

When a PoW network gets a notarized block that starts at XXX1, it will use the longest chain rule at XXX2. When a dPoW network gets a notarized block, on the other hand, it will not accept a chain that starts at XXX0, even if it is the longest chain. Instead, it refers to the most recent backups in its chosen PoW blockchain.

PoW requires miners to solve complex cryptographic puzzles before they can mine a new block. This process requires high-level equipment and significant electricity levels to perform intense computational work. Mining keeps the network safe from outside attacks, checks the legitimacy of transactions, and makes new units of cryptocurrency.

The security of PoW greatly depends on the computational power being used. This is a significant disadvantage to small blockchain networks since it makes their system much more insecure than that of large ones.

dPoW vs. PoS

Proof of Stake is a consensus mechanism that prides itself on reducing the amount of computational work required before blocks and transactions are verified. Proof-of-Stake uses the machines of the coin owners to reduce the amount of computational work to be done.

The most apparent difference between both mechanisms is that dPoW functions mainly as a security mechanism while PoS works as a consensus mechanism. Proof-of-stake blocks are verified using the machines of token owners, reducing the computational work required to verify blocks and transactions. Proof-of-stake blocks are verified using the machines of token owners, reducing the amount of computational work to be done.

PoS greatly differs from dPoW, which leverages the PoW consensus algorithm of another network. dPoW aims to enhance the network’s security, and PoS focuses on reducing the computational work required to verify blocks and transactions.

Advantages of dPoW

dPoW has two major advantages. Its heightened level of security and energy efficiency.

Greater Security For The Blockchain

The security mechanism is designed to frequently carry out backups on the leveraged PoW network. The consensus mechanism will look for the most accurate record when a transaction is older than the most recent backup.

If the system is successfully hacked or there is a system failure, data can easily be retrieved, and for severe damage to occur, the hacker would have to break into the leveraged blockchain and get rid of all its backups.

If a third party made use of dPoW and had been damaged, then all copies of the smart chain, the main dPoW network, and the chosen PoW network where the dPoW backups are kept would have to be destroyed.

Energy Efficiency

dPoW boosts the energy efficiency of a protocol since they do not have to carry out large computational work, thereby reducing energy consumption and cutting down the waste of computing resources.

Conclusion

The Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) security mechanism allows for an added level of security that ensures the safety of a chain when attacked. This makes it a powerful innovation for projects like Komodo that wish to utilize the extra level of security to their advantage.