Cryptoacademy season 3 beginners course homework post for task 4, difference between POS and POW, done by @phenomenal1052 for professor @sapwood
Good days everyone, am happy to be able to be a part of this, and a big ups to the professor for this great lecture.
(1) What is the difference between PoW & PoS? Advantages & Disadvantages? Which one is better in scaling Capacity? Examples?
What is the difference between POW and POS?
Before I answer and state the difference between these two algorithm, I deem it fit to first share my knowledge on what POW and POS is all about.
POW
Proof-Of-Work is the original decentralized Consensus algorithm in the blockchain network that secures many Crypto currencies.
It requires people called “Miners” of a network to expand their effort in solving mathematical puzzle every minutes ( it's varies, some 10, some 2.5 minutes) that helps in securing the system and aiding safe peer to peer transaction and they earn reward on every successful mining. The likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum and many more makes use of Proof of work.POS
The main concept of Proof of stake is simple, it's all about the more coins you have, the more mining power you have. Like a winner can mine and also be involved in validation of block transactions according to how much coin he/she holds.
It was created as an alternative to Proof of work.
Difference between POW and POS.
POW | POS |
---|---|
* Like I said before the probability of | In the other hand, the probability of validating a |
mining a block depends on solving a puzzle fastest | transactions is based on how much coins held. |
*The miner to solve the mathematical | In POS the validator does not receive reward, they are |
puzzle gets a reward. | the one who receives the transaction fee payed after transactions |
* In POW hackers need to have 51% | But in POS hackers would need to own and hold 51% of |
of computation power to add harmful | all the crypto currency on the network because POS is all |
block to the system. | about how much you have, and having 51% is impossible. |
* The POW system is consume more | The POS on the other hand consume less energy, more |
energy and they are less costly but more efficient. | money and less efficient than POW. |
* POW requires initial investment to | POS requires initial investment in buying coins to have big |
buy hardware used in mining. | Mining power. |
Advantages and Disadvantages of POW and POS
ADVANTAGES OF POW and POS
POW | POS |
---|---|
* The pow idea helps to secure crypto from hackers, an hackers will need 51% of the network computing power, and this is very hard even impossible. | In the POS system, a hacker also needs 51% of the coins in circulation to be able to hack, this is also Impossible |
* Rewards are given to miners for solving mathematical puzzle and the fastest miner gets the reward | POS does not consume plenty of energy, it requires only few amount of electricity to secure the network. |
Disadvantages of POW and POS
POW | POS |
---|---|
* POW consumes huge amount of energy | the main disadvantage of POS is that it setup is to |
and it ends up wasted if a miner is did not | make the rich richer, and it cost a lot start, if a miner |
get the amount of zero first while validating transaction | wants to earn big. |
* POW reduces the level of decentralization | The way POS works can be argued that it does not |
Like I said earlier, that mining using the POW | align with the concept of decentralization that the |
consumes energy, and facts has it that 70% | blockchain is all about. It gives more power to |
of hashing power comes from China, because | some people, rather than decentralize it among |
China has cheap electricity, and this gives China | the users. |
a big advantage in mining. |
Which one is better in scaling capacity?
I will go with POS because it solves the problems and downside of POW, like the huge amount of energy consumed and wasted on solving hashrate, and it also gives room for people with small infrastructure to participate and earn.
For example, it is difficult for someone with just one computer to be faster than people with big, more resources to solve the puzzle faster.
POS is system makes its harder to hack than the POW system, it is easier for hackers to pull resources together and get 51% computation power than for them to get 51% of the amount of coins in circulation. Looking at the two system it is safe to say that scalability is better using the POS system thhan the POW System.
Examples of network that makes use of POS are : ETHEREUM, DASH, NEO.
Conclusion
We can keep talking about this all day, but at the end of the day, the two systems have their good, bad and ugly, so it's just finding which is perfect for a network. Thank you for reading, and am happy to take part in this.
Cc. @sapwood
Hello @phenomenal1052 , I’m glad you participated in the 4th Task of the Beginner’s class at the Steemit Crypto Academy. Your grades in this task are as follows:
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Thank you for submitting your homework task 4. We hope to see the rest of your submissions.