Cryptology ePrint Archive: Report 2018/601
Verifiable Delay Functions
Dan Boneh, Joseph Bonneau, Benedikt Bünz, Ben Fisch
Abstract: We study the problem of building a verifiable delay function (VDF). A VDF requires a specified number of sequential steps to evaluate, yet produces a unique output that can be efficiently and publicly verified. VDFs have many applications in decentralized systems, including public randomness beacons, leader election in consensus protocols, and proofs of replication. We formalize the requirements for VDFs and present new candidate constructions that are the first to achieve an exponential gap between evaluation and verification time.
Category / Keywords: cryptographic protocols / VDF, proof of sequential work, time-lock puzzle, RSA,
Original Publication (with minor differences): IACR-CRYPTO-2018
Date: received 12 Jun 2018, last revised 21 Aug 2018
Contact author: benafisch at gmail com
Available format(s): PDF | BibTeX Citation
Version: 20180822:033812 (All versions of this report)
Short URL: ia.cr/2018/601
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