HN2new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Has there been any movement in the crypto world (that isn’t just creating new coins) towards switching algorithms such that BTC et al don’t use proof of work anymore?


Stellar (https://stellar.org/) uses a novel Byzantine agreement protocol (https://www.stellar.org/papers/stellar-consensus-protocol?lo...) which practically eliminates it in comparison.

It is also insanely cheap (like $1... and even that is just "held" in the account and can be released later) to "mint" a new coin and thus is practically perfect for NFTs.

It's seen as sort of a joke in the crypto world by those who are only trying to make a buck (price of XLM, used for paying transaction fees, is relatively stable compared to others) but I think it's one of the few cryptos out there that has a chance of making a real difference in the world long term.


Stellar is centralized though, so it completely misses the point.


Anyone can participate in consensus, but you do have to be trusted by someone else who already participates in the trusted consensus, so you're right that it's not completely decentralized (but is also not strictly centralized either).

Here's a current visualization of how many participants there are: https://stellarbeat.io/


Ethereum is switching to proof of stake. AFAIK (not a crypto guy) it's the second largest blockchain.


More relevant to the question at hand, Ethereum is also where all the NFTs are.


Bitcoin is extremely resistant to change.

Ethereum is what all the articles about costly NFTs are written about. The proof of stake (low energy consumption) chain is already live and the proof of work chain will is scheduled to be shut down in 2 years. Faster if the miners try to revolt


Tezos using PoS has been up and running for more than a year i think. You can mint NFTs here: http://nftz.fun/ https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/


Cardano – the 3rd largest currency by marketcap[1], after Bitcoin and Ethereum – uses proof of stake.

[1] - https://coinmarketcap.com/




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: