Hello Everyone,
hope you all are well. @alphafx give us the detail about the Consensus Algorithm and ask us to write a detailed description of the given Algorithms. Here I choose Proof of Capacity.

What is Proof of Capacity

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Proof of Capacity is a defined cryptocurrency mechanism that is used in blockchains. It enables the mining devices within the network to utilize their acquired hardware space to manage the mining regulations and transactions. This is completely different from the computational power of mining and cryptocurrency stake.

The POC authentication system would use spare space found on a particular hard drive to figure out the solutions to the cryptocurrency hashing issues. One of this system’s biggest benefits is its efficiency in comparison to proof of work and proof of stake mechanisms. There are many blockchains that run on the proof of capacity mechanism such as Storj, Bust, Chia, etc.

With the usage of hard drives and storage devices, this mechanism provides a clean, efficient and transparent source of block verification among the miners today.

The biggest quality of this mechanism is that it avoids all the attackers via the lack of shortage of hard drives. The more the hard drives, the higher the possibility this mechanism has to get rid of all the interferences.

Understanding Proof of Capacity

The POC mechanism turned out to be one of the most formidable alternatives to the cure of high energy consumption in PoW systems as well as the hoarding in PoS systems. This mechanism enables the mining devices, also referred to as nodes, in a blockchain algorithm to utilize empty portions of their hard disk to mine the recommended cryptocurrencies.

Rather than dealing with the alteration of numbers in the block header and looking for the solution to the hashing problem in the PoW system, Proof of Capacity works by enclosing a list of possible solutions on the hard drive of the mining system even before the mining procedure starts.

The bigger the hard drive, the more possible solutions the PoC system can enclose in it. Most importantly, there will be more opportunities for a particular miner to visualize the matchings of the hashing value from his respective list. Eventually, the miner will win the miner awards based on the number of matched hashing values.

Talking about an analogy, if we win a lottery based on the most number of matched letters on the winning ticket, the player with the most number of letters on his ticket is likely to win. The reason is that he has a higher probability of getting the letter right. Additionally, the participant can use the lottery ticket block numbers repeatedly. Burstcoin is one of the cryptocurrencies that are associated with the Proof of Capacity mechanism.

Plotting and Mining

The Proof of Capacity involves two mechanisms as part of its procedure i.e. Plotting and Mining. We will dive into both of those mechanisms below.

First of all, the hard drive gets plotted. Plotting means the creation of all the possible nonce values via the repetition of hashing of data, involving the miner’s own account. Every nonce contains 8192 hashes.

They are numbered from 0 to 8191. All the hashes get bedded into ‘scoops’. This means that external hashes are combined to create a pair. For instance, hash 0 and 1 combine to form scoop 0, hash 2 and 3 combines to form scope 1, and so on.

In the second mechanism, we have the mining procedure. In this procedure, the miner calculates the scoop number. For instance, if a miner begins the procedure and his calculation is said to be 38, the miner will go to that scoop number of nonce 1. After that, he will use the data of that nonce to calculate the deadline value.

This procedure is repetitive as it gets repeated for the deadline value calculations regarding each nonce that is placed upon the miner’s hard drive. After all the nonce calculations are completed, the nonce that has the least deadline value gets selected by the miner.

A deadline value is represented in seconds to evaluate the time duration since the last block was found which enables the miner to jump to the next block. If no one has found the block on time, the miner can find the block himself and declare himself as the block award winner.

For example, if miner A has a deadline of 30 seconds and no other miner can get to the block within the next 30 seconds, A will have the opportunity to find the block and get all the rewards regarding it.

Pros and Cons of Proof of Capacity

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Proof of Capacity mechanism or algorithm is a very interesting concept to know. However, like many other algorithms around the world, it also comes up with its benefits and drawbacks. We will go through every one of them below:

Pros

• In proof of capacity mechanism, the miner can use any respective hard drive. The hard drive can even be an Android-based system. There are no limitations surrounding it.
• The Proof of Capacity mechanism is said to be up to 30 times more efficient and effective than the ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) based mining regarding the bitcoin cryptocurrency.
• If you are associated with the proof of capacity mechanism, there is no longer a requirement of dedicated hardware or frequent upgrading of your respective hard drives.
• The mining data can easily be removed and the miner can utilize that hard drive for future purposes e.g. storage. Therefore, this mechanism brings portability within the miner’s work as he can use the same hard drive over and over again.
  

  Cons

• You will not find many professional developers that have a great association with the proof of capacity mechanism. Every developer has his own favorite mechanism.
• There is a huge possibility for the malware to affect the mining procedure and its constituent activities. The miners and the developers have to be cautious of all these interferences if they want an efficient procedure to be carried forward.
• If a miner or a professional developer has a long-term association with the proof of capacity mechanism, it may produce a ‘rat race’ within the miners to produce the best capacity hard drives.

Respected Professor

@alphafx

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@etainclub

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