Paper 2018/939
The Proof is in the Pudding: Proofs of Work for Solving Discrete Logarithms
Marcella Hastings, Nadia Heninger, and Eric Wustrow
Abstract
We propose a proof of work protocol that computes the discrete logarithm of an element in a cyclic group. Individual provers generating proofs of work perform a distributed version of the Pollard rho algorithm. Such a protocol could capture the computational power expended to construct proof-of-work-based blockchains for a more useful purpose, as well as incentivize advances in hardware, software, or algorithms for an important cryptographic problem. We describe our proposed construction and elaborate on challenges and potential trade-offs that arise in designing a practical proof of work.
Note: Update camera-ready paper, add publication information.
Metadata
- Available format(s)
-
PDF
- Category
- Applications
- Publication info
- Published elsewhere. Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2019
- Keywords
- Proofs of workdiscrete logarithm problemPollard rhocryptanalysisdistributed cryptography
- Contact author(s)
- mhast @ cis upenn edu
- History
- 2019-01-10: last of 3 revisions
- 2018-10-05: received
- See all versions
- Short URL
- https://ia.cr/2018/939
- License
-
CC BY
BibTeX
@misc{cryptoeprint:2018/939,
author = {Marcella Hastings and Nadia Heninger and Eric Wustrow},
title = {The Proof is in the Pudding: Proofs of Work for Solving Discrete Logarithms},
howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2018/939},
year = {2018},
url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/939}
}
