Proof of physical work for a more sustainable decentralized consensus in blockchain technology

Focus:	Resource efficiency Talents
Type of funding:	Individual funding programmes
Programme:	CZS Nexus
Funded institution:	Karlsruhe Institut of Technology (KIT)

Dr. Frank Rhein conducts research at the interface of cryptography, engineering and natural sciences. He studied chemical engineering and process engineering at KIT and at the University of Adelaide in Australia. During his doctorate at KIT, he also conducted research at ETH Zurich.

Goals

The greatest achievement of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency is that it works without a central authority. It uses 'proof of work' to reach a decentralized consensus on the status of the blockchain. The blockchain is trustworthy, as manipulating it requires an unachievable amount of work and computing power. However, this security comes at the price of a massive waste of resources and CO2 emissions: Bitcoin would currently be the fifth largest EU state in terms of electricity consumption.

The aim of Dr. Frank Rhein's research project is to transfer this principle to the physical world and reduce CO2 emissions by developing a 'proof of physical work'. For this purpose, physical one-way functions are required and developed. These are reproducible processes whose outputs do not allow any direct conclusions to be drawn about their inputs. A blockchain protocol based on this uses expensive physical resources and time instead of cheap electricity, which leads to a significant global CO2 reduction due to the economic limitation of the participants.

The proposed idea opens up a completely new field of research at the interface of cryptography, engineering and natural sciences.