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The Creator of Proof-of-Stake Thinks He Finally Figured It OutKnown for creating the first proof-of-stake-based cryptocurrency, pseudonymous developer Sunny King is back with an idea that's sure to surprise – adding hardware.
Proof-of-stake, or PoS, has been heralded as a more ecological way to come to consensus on blockchains since it doesn't rely on expensive hardware using vast amounts of electricity to compute mathematical puzzles (for instance, like bitcoin's proof-of-work).
As a result of this, and the algorithm's ability to handle more scale, various high-profile blockchain projects, including EOS, Tezos, NEO and Cardano, have adopted the system.
But according to King, by reworking the algorithm to allow for specialized hardware, PoS will be even better suited for high-speed transaction throughput.
The creator of peercoin, the first proof-of-stake cryptocurrency launched in 2012, and primecoin, a cryptocurrency that achieves its security by searching for prime numbers, King is known for finding innovative ways to re-architect the technology.
Primecoin even inspired ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who called King "the single most original altcoin developer out there" in 2013.
And now, he's hoping to inspire again with his new design called "supernode proof-of-stake," or SPoS, which requires specialized hardware to operate.
While the project is still a bit light on the details, King said the concept of SPoS isn't far from delegated proof-of-stake, or DPoS, in that it allows for the concentration of staking pools. According to King, with this, the project intends to simplify the development and maintenance of the blockchains therein.
"I try to envision an era that blockchain is used widely in technology," King told CoinDesk, adding:
"Proof-of-stake consensus is especially designed for this purpose, to enable an era where millions or more blockchains can run independently with high level of security and basically no energy requirement."
Built to popularize blockchain adoption by optimizing the technology for data-storage and making it more efficient to deploy, the project is being designed specifically for a Hong Kong-based project, Virtual Economy Era (VEE), of which King is chief architect.
It's set to go live on September 17, at which time an internal token, VEE coin, will also launch, and the project's code base will be made open source.
According to King, "VEE takes a good look at the barriers of building blockchain applications and tries to streamline the process and expand the ecosystem, so at some point we can say using blockchain technology is as easy as using a database."
