Kamal Swami

POC: The Cornerstone Of Future Blockchains

With the dynamic expansion of Blockchain technology in recent years, there have been equal improvements in the methods used to validate transactions and mine new blocks. Among various emerging techniques, Proof of Capacity (PoC)—also known as proof of space—has gained huge popularity because of its efficiency and low resource consumption. As compared to traditional approaches like Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS), PoC offers a new approach that utilizes hard drive space to maintain the integrity of the blockchain.

Proof of Capacity allows network participants (nodes) to utilize the unused space of the hard drive for mining and validating transactions. Instead of depending on GPUs or staking coins, PoC empowers users to contribute to the blockchain network by using unused disk space.

Compared to POW this method is far more energy-efficient and time-saving. Where a POW takes almost 10 minutes to mine a Bitcoin block, POC takes only 4 minutes to perform the same task. This is almost less than half the time used by POWs. This feature makes POC faster and more eco-friendly.

The working of POC is different from Bitcoin's POW. Unlike POW, it doesn’t require miners to perform intensive computations repeatedly to find the right hash. Instead of these critical computations, PoC allows miners to compute and prepare a list of possible hashes on their local hard drives before there is a need to use them.

• Miners have the freedom to generate and store all possible hash values.
• These values are stored on a hard disk. The process of storing these values is known as plotting.
• At the time of mining a new block, it is necessary for miners to scan their stored plots and find the correct nonce that is according to the requirement of a block.
• The chances of locating correct hashes quickly are high, depending upon the size of the storage.

Compared to conventional consensus mechanisms POC comes with various valuable benefits.

• Eco-Friendly: It is approximately 30 times more energy-efficient than POW.
• Creates Blocks Instantly: POC can create blocks in just 4 minutes.
• Hardware-Friendly: There is no need for specialized mining rigs or expensive GPUs.
• Suitable For Storing Other Items: Hard drives used for mining can also be used for other storage tasks.
• Low Maintenance: POC doesn’t require regular maintenance.

Despite its benefits, POC has certain limitations:

• Limited Adoption: As this approach is in its primary stage, it’s not as popular as PoW or PoS.
• Security Concerns: There is a risk of malicious activities like hiding unauthorized data, due to the presence of extra free space in hard drives.
• Market Impact: Once there is an increase in the use of POCs, it will increase the competition in the market and hike the prices of hard drives.

Proof of Capacity can be an effective alternative when compared to the energy-intensive Proof of Work and capital-heavy Proof of Stake mechanism. By using unused storage and reducing power consumption, it opens the way for a more sustainable blockchain future. Despite being in an emerging stage, PoC has the potential to reshape of people think about crypto mining and network participation.