The new consensus on Blockstack is really about accountability for the holders of money

Muneeb Ali, CEO of Blockstack, a distributed computing network, wrote a post on the Blockstack forum titled Stacking: a new blockchain consensus algorithm. This article is really just some of Muneeb's ideas, not that Blockstack has decided to implement the new consensus. At the end of the article, Muneeb says it is up to the community to decide whether the consensus will be upgraded.

In the article, Muneeb says he plans to upgrade Blockstack consensus algorithm Stacking in the second quarter of this year. The new consensus algorithm updates include updates to Rust language usage, improved Stacks mining, Clarity smart contract language usage, and more (see full text below).

After reading through, the most important change in the new consensus algorithm Stacking mentioned by Muneeb is the introduction of PoS mechanism. From the expression of Muneeb, we can intuitively feel that Blockstack is developing towards the combination of PoW+PoS, which is similar to Decred.

The current combustion of Blockstack is proof of the PoB consensus, which is a modified version of PoW, in which miners send bitcoins to an address, become network nodes and receive the replacement currency STX. Just like the bitcoin network, miners need to spend the cost of mining machines and electricity to get bitcoin, miners at Blockstack need to spend the cost of bitcoin to get STX.

The problem, however, is that there is no revenue for the holders. Users holding STX can only obtain benefits through thinking on the standard of legal currency, without the benefits of the standard of currency. This phenomenon is especially serious when the online trading platform of STX and the price of tokens are not ideal.

But according to Muneeb, Blockstack's new consensus introduces a mechanism of PoS, in which the interests of the holders are taken into account, although not explicitly shown. Miners are no longer the only beneficiaries of the new consensus. Both miners and holders of the currency are participants in the consensus. Users holding STX can get the reward of currency standard by actively participating in the consensus, which is actually the core concept of PoS.

Interestingly, Blockstack's PoS rewards are not the native STX, but bitcoin. If the new consensus can be rolled out, it should be the only bitcoin "PoS" at present. But the PoS here does not refer to the output of inflation, the source of bitcoin income for the holders are the miners of Blockstack.

Here is the full text of the Muneeb forum:

We are now preparing a major upgrade to Blockstack's consensus algorithm, which is expected to launch in the second quarter of this year, if feasible. The updates to Stacks2.0 include Rust language updates, token Stacks mining enhancements, Clarity language for smart contracts, and other updates. The mechanism currently used by Blockstacks is the burn proof (PoB). The PoB mining process is that Stacks miners need to burn an underlying currency (bitcoin) to participate in mining.

In more detail, we're going to replace PoB with a completely new concept, which we'll call transmission proof (PoX). PoX does not need to burn. What the miners need to do is transfer the underlying currency to the holders of Stacks that participate in the consensus in the algorithm. We plan on using bitcoin as the underlying currency, so it's the miners who transfer bitcoin to the participating consensus holders.

If this scenario is finalized, which could be a Stack 2.0 milestone, we intend to call this new consensus algorithm Stacking. As I said, in the Stacking, bitcoin is still there, but it's not being destroyed, it's being transferred. Users who accept bitcoin have two characteristics: first, they hold Stacks; Second, actively participate in consensus. In one round of the loop (about a month), users who meet the Stacking condition receive a bitcoin reward.

Why you should choose bitcoin:I chose bitcoin because it is the most secure PoW network available. Stacking consensus allows people to participate in the consensus using these trusted PoW currencies that are as secure as bitcoin, so there is no need to repeat the process of PoW going from power source to currency. We believe that the new blockchain should benefit from bitcoin rather than duplicate work.

What are the benefits of Stacking:Where PoX is stronger than PoB, PoX does not need to destroy the underlying currency. Meanwhile, holders of the Stacks may also get economic rewards from bitcoin in the process of participating in the consensus.

Comparison of PoW and PoS:Without tweaking the bitcoin protocol, the Stacking consensus is that the new blockchain network can benefit from a separate PoW network like bitcoin. In addition, just like the PoS consensus, holders of new items are rewarded for participating in the consensus, and the biggest difference between Stacking and PoS is that the Stacking reward is bitcoin.

Muneeb 原文链接：https://forum.blockstack.org/t/stacking-a-new-consensus-algorithm-for-blockchains/10162?utm_source=email+marketing+Mailigen&utm_campaign=investor-update-q4-2019-jan14&utm_medium=email

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