Blockchain technology is gaining acceleration and more projects are born, thus battles over consensus models are becoming hot topic. It is not a secret that Bitcoin’s PoW (proof-of-work) system attracts a lot of criticism from the media for its over consumption of energy. This was the main reason why other projects started to take on other systems such as PoS (proof-of-stake) or dPoS (delegated proof-of-stake), which are more environment-friendly and efficient than PoW systems. But still these new adopted models are being targeted by critics due to their flaws.
In a non-technical language speaking, in a Proof of Stake consensus model, there is a group of people who form a consensus on node validation and they get rewards for doing that. In simpler terms, person can mine or validate block transactions according to how many coins he holds. This means that the more tokens are owned by a miner or validator, the more power he has in a system. The common reason why PoS systems are being criticised is that there is only a small group of people acting as validator nodes, therefore only a small group of people has power in the system. This results in a smaller number of people availability to secure majority control over these nodes therefore disproving the decentralisation.
Next I am going to talk about the flaws that today’s biggest blockchain projects consensuses have and how MATRIX AI NETWORK blockchain will help to eliminate them with its innovative consensus model.
Bitcoin
Perhaps the most criticized part of cryptocurrency is the “waste” of energy in the mining process. Although it is essential to attach physical value to the cryptocurrency, the mining process does not make any sense out of the world of digital currency. Bitcoin’s PoW consensus model is not environmental-friendly and I think that blockchain projects should not be wasting energy and challenging the nature.
Ethereum
As you might be already aware of this by now, Ethereum has ditched the PoW consensus model to adopt the PoS model. While this greener alternative does offer some enhancements, While this was obviously more “greener” move to make and PoS system ensures higher transaction speeds, it was still gaining criticism of its flaws. The primary point of criticism towards Ethereum’s PoS model was that the token amount needed to staking, which was around 1000 ETH tokens. Such requirements makes staking available only to small group of people therefore it denies the decentralization because the power would be granted to only a few. And we don’t want that!
EOS
EOS is system that uses the dPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) model. The EOS project came under heavy criticism as it raised $700 million through its ICO, despite not having a working prototype of the EOS mainnet. EOS has 21 supernodes, which are delegated by the voting system. The key point of criticism is the massive reward for supernodes, which range at approximately $400 million a year therefore its voting system, according to critics, is prone to become corrupted. With these factors in the equation, this situation is arguably a recipe for disaster regarding the legitimacy of dPoS. We must understand one thing, this fault does not stem from the technology of EOS, rather, it is an issue stemming from the entities involved within the EOS dPoS system. Worth to mention Vitalik Buterin’s criticism on EOS consensus model. (Visit this link to check the full article). According to Ethereum founder, to try to ensure decentralization, dPoS allows all coin holders to vote on who the nodes running the consortium chain are. This, together with the lack of in-protocol economic incentives for these master nodes to behave correctly, and the lack of client-side validation capability, mean that there is an extreme reliance on the voting mechanism. Voting has the following problems:
· Low voter participation.
· Because each voter only has a tiny chance of influencing the result, their incentive to vote correctly is thousands of times lower than the socially optimal incentive. This means that situations like everyone putting their coins on exchanges and exchanges voting on users’ behalf, with users not really caring how exchanges vote with their money, are likely to happen.
· Coin holder interests are not perfectly aligned with user interests, and so proposals that increase coin prices at the expense of making the system useful may get implemented. Basically, those arguing in favor of coin voting are arguing in favor of the same process of deciding who runs the blockchain and all significant protocol decisions.
Opponents argue that these dPoS model flaws mean that EOS is not a decentralized network at all. The power of the Arbitration Forum and supernodes is too great. The design of the consensus mechanism is based on the “good of human nature,” which is difficult to establish in reality. The so-called competitor, V-God, commented that the 21 supernodes of EOS were not 21 different entities but were intrinsically linked together, creating to a plutocracy. At least, up to now, EOS has not shown the support for stable computing capacity or made protective measures for fairness, the greatest advantage of blockchain.
How Matrix uses the PoW+PoS consensus model eliminate Flaws described above
First of all, Matrix’s PoW system utilizes Bayesian mining and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) computation. For those who have no clue what those names could mean, MATRIX is utilizing mining power to solve real world problems (we call it purposeful mining) and at the same moment powering Matrix’s artificial intelligence engine for Smart contract auditing. Unlike Bitcoin, Matrix’s mining processing and computational power is used for various real world applications such as difficult statistical calculations, clinical diagnosis (Matrix at the moment is working with Beijing Cancer Hospital to help diagnosing cancer using AI), video analytics and structural modeling. I am sure, with increasing adoption of Matrix and improvements in the future, application field will be incredibly wide and used by many facilities. MATRIX’s purposeful mining will have a huge impact on other blockchain projects. This will result in better real world blockchain adoption and recognition, as well as MATRIX AI NETWORK being leader in this field.
When it comes to eliminating centralisation in PoS system, Matrix does an incredibly job by its innovative model. Simply explained, Matrix contracts network by implementing hierarchy using AI, which then applies randomised selection to delegate a set of nodes during every block cycle. This means nodes are constantly changing and there is no possibility for a big entity to occupy control over the network. Complete centralisation cannot happen in the Matrix consensus model. It is just amazing and groundbreaking solution to solve today’s biggest blockchain projects flaws.
