2024/04/06 by Agron Gemajli, Shivam Patel, Gemajli, Agron +3
Environmental Science · #Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.04729
openalex publication_date 2024/04/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Proof of Work (PoW) blockchains burn a lot of energy. Proof-of-work algorithms are expensive by design and often only serve to compute blockchains. In some sense, carbon-based and non-carbon based regional electric power is fungible. So the total carbon and non-carbon electric power mix plays a role. Thus, generally PoW algorithms have large CO2 footprints solely for computing blockchains. A proof of technology is described towards replacing hashcash or other PoW methods with a lottery and proof-of-VM (PoVM) emulation. PoVM emulation is a form of PoW where an autonomous blockchain miner gets a lottery ticket in exchange for providing a VM (virtual Machine) for a specified period. These VMs get their jobs from a job queue. Managing and ensuring, by concensus, that autonomous PoVMs are properly configured and running as expected gives several gaps for a complete practical system. These gaps are discussed. Our system is similar to a number of other blockchain systems. We briefly survey these systems. This paper along with our proof of technology was done as a senior design project.