# Proof of Work Related Articles

HTX News Center provides the latest articles and in-depth analysis on "Proof of Work", covering market trends, project updates, tech developments, and regulatory policies in the crypto industry.

PRL Surges Over 60% in a Week: How Does Pearl Enable AI Computing Power to Mine While Performing Inference?

Pearl Research (PRL), a project in the AI crypto space, has seen its token price surge over 60% in a week and 250% in 30 days, reaching a market cap of ~$6.5B. The core innovation is its Proof of Useful Work (PoUW) consensus mechanism, which aims to enable GPUs to perform AI computations (like inference) while simultaneously mining the Pearl blockchain, creating a potential dual revenue stream from AI service fees and PRL block rewards. An early commercial case involves a partnership with Together AI, offering discounted inference services subsidized by expected mining rewards. However, a key challenge and point of debate is distinguishing between *useful* AI computations from paying clients and *synthetic* matrix calculations generated purely for mining rewards. Independent research suggests miners can currently earn rewards without running full AI models for real clients. Technically, Pearl replaces traditional PoW hashing with matrix multiplication, a fundamental AI operation. Its long-term value hinges on increasing the proportion of paid, real-world AI inference tasks on its network. The project faces other hurdles: PRL has a maximum supply of 2.1B tokens with only ~16.4% currently circulating, leading to a high fully diluted valuation (FDV) of nearly $40B. Continuous mining issuance (est. ~1M PRL daily) creates ongoing sell pressure. For the current valuation to be sustainable, Pearl must demonstrate scalable commercial demand and establish clearer value accrual mechanisms for the PRL token beyond block rewards.

marsbit13h ago

PRL Surges Over 60% in a Week: How Does Pearl Enable AI Computing Power to Mine While Performing Inference?

marsbit13h ago

Quantum-Resistant Version of Zcash? New Public Chain Quantus Secures Investment from Balaji and Others, High Pre-Mine Ratio Draws Scrutiny

The recently launched Layer 1 blockchain Quantus is gaining attention for positioning itself as an "anti-quantum Zcash," combining post-quantum security with privacy features. It utilizes the ML-DSA (Dilithium) algorithm, a NIST-selected post-quantum signature standard, to counter future quantum computing threats. For privacy, it employs a Wormhole address model using zero-knowledge proofs, differing from Zcash's shielded pool approach. To manage the larger data size of post-quantum signatures, Quantus uses STARK-based ZK proof aggregation. Adopting a Bitcoin-like PoW model with a 21 million QTC coin cap, Quantus has secured around $2.42 million in funding from notable investors like Balaji Srinivasan, who also serves as an advisor, and others from the Zcash investment circle. This backing has fueled its market visibility. However, its tokenomics have drawn community criticism, with 27% of the total supply pre-mined at genesis for investors, founders, team, and the company, leading to concerns about future sell pressure from linear unlocks over 36 months. While its "quantum-resistant + privacy" narrative capitalizes on current market trends, the project's long-term viability depends on technological validation, user adoption, and ecosystem growth.

marsbit10/08 07:55

Quantum-Resistant Version of Zcash? New Public Chain Quantus Secures Investment from Balaji and Others, High Pre-Mine Ratio Draws Scrutiny

marsbit10/08 07:55

Major Chinese Investor Forced to Sell Large Quantity of This Altcoin After Recent Price Volatility!

Blockchain data shows that major Chinese crypto figure Li Gong Wang executed a significant altcoin sale on the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange. He sold 15,000 Zcash (ZEC) via a limit order worth approximately $23 million, at a price roughly $30 (about 2%) below the market rate. ZEC has gained attention recently for its Proof-of-Work system, now rare outside of Bitcoin, and its privacy features. This popularity has also led to increased price volatility. After reaching a high of $1,600 within the day, the price of ZEC subsequently declined and was trading around $1,520 at the time of reporting.

cryptonews.ru09/28 18:30

Major Chinese Investor Forced to Sell Large Quantity of This Altcoin After Recent Price Volatility!

cryptonews.ru09/28 18:30

Grayscale: "Mining this altcoin has become even more profitable than mining Bitcoin, and it could be a positive cycle"

Grayscale's Head of Research, Zack Pandl, stated that mining Zcash (ZEC) currently offers significantly higher profitability compared to Bitcoin mining. He noted that mining activity on the Zcash network has increased more than 2.5 times since the start of the year. While Bitcoin's network is far larger in scale, paying miners approximately $35 million daily versus Zcash's $2 million, Grayscale's analysis suggests Zcash offers superior returns relative to capital and energy deployed. Specifically, Zcash miners earn roughly double the daily revenue per mining rig and about four times the revenue per megawatt-hour (MWh) compared to Bitcoin miners. However, the mining hardware for the two networks is not interchangeable due to different algorithms. The sharp rise in ZEC's price has been a key driver in improving mining economics. This increased profitability is accelerating the influx of new computational power into the Zcash network. Grayscale posits this could create a positive cycle: a higher ZEC price boosts mining activity, the increased hash rate strengthens network security, and a more secure network could boost investor confidence, potentially further supporting the ZEC price.

cryptonews.ru09/11 19:41

Grayscale: "Mining this altcoin has become even more profitable than mining Bitcoin, and it could be a positive cycle"

cryptonews.ru09/11 19:41

Supporters of BIP-110 Resumed Work on the 'Minority Fork' and Reduced the Block Size to a Mere 300 KB

Supporters of the BIP-110 "minority fork" have resumed work, successfully mining over 800 blocks after initial difficulties. The fork, which split from Bitcoin at block height 961,632, has implemented significant changes: it switched its Proof-of-Work algorithm to Blake2b and, notably, reduced the maximum block size to 300 KB. This block size reduction fulfills a long-standing goal of developer Luke Dashjr. The fork's cryptocurrency, "bitcoin-blake2b," is not listed on any major centralized exchanges or price aggregators. Its proponents downplay this lack of support, emphasizing peer-to-peer commerce over exchange trading. However, the fork faces widespread rejection from the broader Bitcoin community, which views it as a separate and incompatible blockchain rather than legitimate Bitcoin. Its future value and significance remain highly uncertain.

cryptonews.ru09/01 05:43

Supporters of BIP-110 Resumed Work on the 'Minority Fork' and Reduced the Block Size to a Mere 300 KB

cryptonews.ru09/01 05:43

Tomorrow is an Important Day for Bitcoin: Major Changes are Coming!

Tomorrow is a crucial day for Bitcoin, as significant changes to its Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm are on the horizon. Luke Dashjr, a Bitcoin developer and lead figure for the Bitcoin Knots project, has targeted Sunday, August 30th, for a major change that could shift the mining algorithm from SHA-256 to BLAKE2b. Dashjr advised miners using SHA-2 to halt operations on Saturday to prepare for a mainnet rehearsal using Bitcoin Knots version 29.4.1rc4. The plan is to finalize the last SHA-2 block and then, following a signal from a New York Post online publication, initiate a new chain using BLAKE2b. If successful, the final Bitcoin Knots 29.4.1 will launch on September 1st, preserving the blockchain history from August 30th. If issues arise, the system can be reverted to the last SHA-2 block for another attempt. Dashjr also recommended miners prepare on testnet4. This change, specific to Bitcoin Knots adopters and not a network-wide protocol update, could significantly impact current Bitcoin mining ASIC hardware, which is optimized for SHA-256 and cannot directly mine using BLAKE2b, potentially leading to a chain split if not widely adopted.

cryptonews.ru08/29 15:25

Tomorrow is an Important Day for Bitcoin: Major Changes are Coming!

cryptonews.ru08/29 15:25

Earning on Uselessness? How the Proof of Useful Work Consensus Works

Earning from the Useless? How Proof of Useful Work Consensus Works Classical cryptocurrency mining, like Bitcoin's Proof of Work (PoW), secures the network and prevents double-spending by performing computationally intensive "useless" hash calculations. Proof of Useful Work (PoUW) aims to solve this by making the work miners do valuable beyond the blockchain. The goal is for computational power securing the network to simultaneously solve problems in fields like medicine, astronomy, or AI. However, implementing PoUW faces significant challenges: 1. **Providing Useful Work**: Unlike uniform hash calculations, useful tasks are rarely identical or consistently available, making fair, parallel work distribution difficult. 2. **The Blockchain Trilemma**: Verifying complex "useful" solutions can be slower than verifying a simple hash, potentially harming scalability and security. 3. **Solution Uniqueness**: Solutions must be unique for each block to prevent reuse. 4. **Predictable Effort**: The system must ensure fair competition with predictable costs, preventing participants from cherry-picking only easy tasks. 5. **Economic Model**: The "useless" work in PoW has intrinsic value—it secures the network and incurs real costs (hardware, electricity), which contribute to a cryptocurrency's economic foundation and valuation. Replacing it with externally valuable work complicates this economic incentive structure. Examples of projects exploring PoUW concepts include: * **Primecoin (2013)**: The first major PoUW attempt, where mining involved searching for special chains of prime numbers, contributing to mathematics. * **Gridcoin**: Rewards participants for contributing computational power to scientific projects via the BOINC platform, though it uses PoS as its base consensus. * **Flux**: A decentralized cloud infrastructure where nodes perform real computational work like hosting and AI tasks under a PoUW v2 model. Other networks like Bittensor (machine learning) and Render Network (GPU rendering) also align with the broad idea of useful computation. In conclusion, while PoUW seeks to merge blockchain security with practical problem-solving, it currently grapples with technical and economic hurdles. Despite these challenges, the concept continues to evolve, indicating persistent interest in making computational work genuinely useful.

cryptonews.ru08/16 20:42

Earning on Uselessness? How the Proof of Useful Work Consensus Works

cryptonews.ru08/16 20:42

Michael Saylor Compares Bitcoin and Gold!

Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, argues that Bitcoin fundamentally changes how wealth is stored and transferred by transforming digital scarcity into economic value. He describes Bitcoin as the first digital monetary network, combining computers, digital networks, and cryptography. It digitizes monetary assets, allowing their supply to be controlled by public protocols rather than institutions, thus converting economic value into information transmissible over global networks. Comparing Bitcoin to gold, Saylor states that while increasing Bitcoin's supply is harder, its integration with software and transfer is easier. He highlights Bitcoin's proof-of-work mechanism, which ties it to the physical world by consuming real energy to secure the ledger, making past transactions immutable. This creates a shared security system involving miners, energy companies, and investors. Saylor suggests "digital monetary energy" is a more accurate term than "digital gold." He emphasizes that the Bitcoin network is an adaptive ecosystem of miners, nodes, developers, and users. Its core design is intentionally simple, focused on maintaining a secure ledger for scarce digital assets, with complex functionalities built in higher-layer applications. This architecture allows Bitcoin to serve as a foundation for transmitting value and fostering innovation in payments and financial services. Saylor notes Bitcoin's deeper impact lies in creating digital sovereignty, where private keys give individuals permissionless control over their economic power, with ownership verified mathematically, not by institutions. He concludes that while gold's physical scarcity makes it money, Bitcoin's digital scarcity does the same, characterizing Bitcoin as the monetary energy of the digital age.

cryptonews.ru08/16 10:45

Michael Saylor Compares Bitcoin and Gold!

cryptonews.ru08/16 10:45

The BIP-110 Chain Faces a Long Struggle for Survival

The BIP-110 minority chain, a fork from the main Bitcoin network, has successfully mined a small chain of four blocks. Typically, this would immediately doom a fork, but BIP-110 proponents have an alternative survival strategy: to abandon the overwhelming SHA-256 difficulty by replacing the chain's Proof-of-Work (PoW) hash function entirely. Rumors suggest a transition to a new PoW algorithm, likely Blake2b, could occur in September. Currently, mining has stalled at block 961635, leaving over 400,000 transactions pending. The new BIP-110 coin has no exchange listings, resulting in no established market price or liquidity. Holders face risks from a lack of replay protection, which can cause unintentional coin movement between chains. The community is watching to see if the fork will successfully implement the PoW change to Blake2b, reset the mining difficulty, and add proper replay protection, facing a significant uphill battle for survival with minimal industry infrastructure support.

cryptonews.ru08/15 20:05

The BIP-110 Chain Faces a Long Struggle for Survival

cryptonews.ru08/15 20:05

If Ethereum Had Never Switched from PoW to PoS: An Unrealized Game

"The Great Merge: What If Ethereum Had Stayed on PoW?" This article explores a counterfactual scenario: What if Ethereum had not transitioned from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in 2022? It examines the potential trade-offs of this historical decision. The key argument for a continued PoW path is the missed opportunity in the AI era. Ethereum's GPU miners, unlike Bitcoin's specialized ASICs, could have formed a massive, globally distributed computing network. This infrastructure might have evolved into a decentralized AI cloud, giving Ethereum a strategic position in the AI compute market. Critics argue the switch to PoS prematurely ended this possibility. However, sticking with PoW would have carried significant costs. PoS drastically reduced ETH's daily issuance and miner sell pressure, aiding its "digital gold" narrative and attracting institutional capital. PoW's higher, continuous inflation could have hindered price stability. Furthermore, PoS provides greater design flexibility for scaling solutions (like Rollups and data blobs) and aligns better with environmental (ESG) and regulatory concerns for mainstream finance adoption. In conclusion, the shift from PoW to PoS represented a fundamental strategic choice between two distinct paths: one potentially leading to a smart-contract-enabled "digital commodity" network with vast compute resources, and the other aiming to become a global, efficient settlement layer for the digital economy. The rise of AI has only made the road not taken more intriguing to contemplate.

marsbit08/12 15:21

If Ethereum Had Never Switched from PoW to PoS: An Unrealized Game