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Blockchain without Waste: Proof-of-Stake
[Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake]

Author

Listed:
  • Fahad Saleh
  • Wei Jiang

Abstract

Permissionless blockchains require a protocol to generate consensus. Many prominent permissionless blockchains employ Proof-of-Work (PoW) for that purpose, but PoW possesses significant shortcomings. Various alternatives have been proposed. This paper provides the first formal economic model of the most famous alternative, Proof-of-Stake (PoS), and establishes conditions under which PoS generates consensus. A sufficiently modest reward schedule not only implies the existence of an equilibrium in which consensus obtains as soon as possible but also precludes a persistent forking equilibrium. The latter result arises because PoS, unlike PoW, requires that validators are also stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Fahad Saleh & Wei Jiang, 2021. "Blockchain without Waste: Proof-of-Stake [Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 1156-1190.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:34:y:2021:i:3:p:1156-1190.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhaa075
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Agur, Itai & Lavayssière, Xavier & Villegas Bauer, Germán & Deodoro, Jose & Martinez Peria, Soledad & Sandri, Damiano & Tourpe, Hervé, 2023. "Lessons from crypto assets for the design of energy efficient digital currencies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Peter Agyemang-Mintah & Joseph Nnanna & Yolande E. Ngoungou, 2024. "Mobile money innovations, income inequality and gender inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Chen, Ka-Hin & Lai, Tze Leung & Liu, Qingfu & Wang, Chuanjie, 2022. "Beyond the blockchain announcement: Signaling credibility and market reaction," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Michael Sockin & Wei Xiong, 2021. "A Model of Cryptocurrencies," Working Papers 2021-67, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    6. Asongu, Simplice A. & Ngoungou, Yolande E. & Nnanna, Joseph, 2023. "Mobile money innovations and health performance in sub-Saharan Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Wenpin Tang, 2022. "Stability of shares in the Proof of Stake Protocol -- Concentration and Phase Transitions," Papers 2206.02227, arXiv.org.
    8. Hinzen, Franz J. & John, Kose & Saleh, Fahad, 2022. "Bitcoin’s limited adoption problem," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 347-369.
    9. Yulin Liu & Luyao Zhang, 2022. "Cryptocurrency Valuation: An Explainable AI Approach," Papers 2201.12893, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2023.
    10. Jongsub Lee & Tao Li & Donghwa Shin, 2022. "The Wisdom of Crowds in FinTech: Evidence from Initial Coin Offerings," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(1), pages 1-46.
    11. Pavel Ciaian & Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & d’Artis Kancs, 2022. "Environmental and Social Preferences and Investments in Crypto-Assets," JRC Research Reports JRC129919, Joint Research Centre.
    12. Chod, Jiri & Lyandres, Evgeny, 2023. "Product market competition with crypto tokens and smart contracts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(1), pages 73-91.
    13. Christian M. Hafner & Sabrine Majeri, 2022. "Analysis of cryptocurrency connectedness based on network to transaction volume ratios," Digital Finance, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 187-216, September.
    14. Alexandre Olbrecht & Gina Pieters, 2023. "Crypto-Currencies and Crypto-Assets: An Introduction," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 201-205, April.
    15. Pavel Ciaian & Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & d'Artis Kancs, 2022. "Environmental-Social-Governance Preferences and Investments in Crypto-Assets (Pavel Ciaian, Andrej Cupak, Pirmin Fessler, d’Artis Kancs)," Working Papers 243, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    16. Asongu, Simplice A. & le Roux, Sara, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in transforming unemployed women to self-employed women in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    17. Pavel Ciaian & Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & d’Artis Kancs, 2022. "Environmental and Social Preferences and Investments in Crypto-Assets," JRC Research Reports JRC129919, Joint Research Centre.
    18. Cyril Monnet & Hyun Song Shin & Jon Frost & Leonardo Gambacorta & Raphael Auer & Tara Rice, 2022. "Central Bank Digital Currencies: Motives, Economic Implications, and the Research Frontier," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 697-721, August.
    19. Gabriel Mathy, 2023. "Eliminating Environmental Costs to Proof-of-Work-Based Cryptocurrencies: A Proposal," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 206-220, April.
    20. Wenpin Tang & David D. Yao, 2022. "Trading under the Proof-of-Stake Protocol -- a Continuous-Time Control Approach," Papers 2207.12581, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    21. Chen, Meichen & Qin, Cong & Zhang, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Cryptocurrency price discrepancies under uncertainty: Evidence from COVID-19 and lockdown nexus," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    22. Wenpin Tang, 2023. "Trading and wealth evolution in the Proof of Stake protocol," Papers 2308.01803, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    23. Garud Iyengar & Fahad Saleh & Jay Sethuraman & Wenjun Wang, 2023. "Economics of Permissioned Blockchain Adoption," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3415-3436, June.
    24. Wang, Jiaxin & Huang, Xiang & Gu, Qiankun & Song, Zilong & Sun, Ruiyi, 2023. "How does fintech affect bank risk? A perspective based on financialized transfer of government implicit debt risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    25. Gehrlein, Jonas & Miebs, Grzegorz & Brunelli, Matteo & Kadziński, Miłosz, 2023. "An active preference learning approach to aid the selection of validators in blockchain environments," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • G00 - Financial Economics - - General - - - General

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