Zcash Proof of Stake Megathread 🧵

Shawn · October 21, 2024, 11:05pm

This (new for 2024) thread is to help focus the conversation around Zcash transitioning from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake.

Relevant links:

Shielded Labs is currently working on PoS mechanisms: Shielded Labs: An Independent, Non-US Organization

Old PoS thread is archived and can be found here

januszgrze · October 21, 2024, 11:16pm

Thank you! will chime in later this evening

Autotunafish · October 22, 2024, 3:54am

Check the links

Shawn · October 22, 2024, 9:21am

Thanks, added, lmk if you have more that should be in the top post

Milton · October 22, 2024, 1:18pm

ceb9ceb4ceb9cf89cf84 · November 16, 2024, 9:32pm

Initially, forgive me if I’m posting this in the wrong topic, I felt free to change it to the correct location.

I was thinking about POS and would like to suggest the possibility of anyone earning Zcash by staking. There would be rules, limiting the risks of someone attacking the network, but giving the possibility of anyone earning interest with staking, even if they are not a validator, even if the interest generated by staking is lower than that generated by the validator for being a validator. I believe that this would motivate people, even with a small amount of coins, helping to have more full nodes in the network.

januszgrze · December 10, 2024, 1:02am

Somewhat relevant talk on hybrid PoS + PoW from a researcher at Rootstock Labs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktecw-zpBH4

Currently reviewing Crosslink docs. Is there another resource that is worth reviewing?

decentralistdan · December 10, 2024, 1:35am

github.com

ShieldedLabs/crosslink-deployment/blob/main/Scoping.md

Scoping for Shielded Labs's first deployment of Crosslink
===

**Progress Tracking:** The top-level goals from this document are tracked as GitHub issues with the [Scoping](https://github.com/ShieldedLabs/crosslink-deployment/labels/Scoping) label.

# Rationale

## Why add Proof-of-Stake?

* Staking ZEC replaces sell pressure from mining pools with buy pressure from validators. Reducing supply and increasing demand can potentiially put upward pressure on the price of ZEC. This is good because the price of ZEC is the fuel for the mission and attracts users.
* Proof-of-Stake adds economic finality, which protects users from being robbed, reduces and unifies [deposit times at centralized exchanges](https://zechub.wiki/using-zcash/custodial-exchanges) and other services and improves the safety and efficiency of bridges.
* Proof-of-Stake provides finality more efficiently than Proof-of-Work – at a lower cost in terms of both economics and energy usage. This makes Zcash both more secure (provide better security for the same cost) and more sustainable (provide security long-term even as the rate of issuance shrinks).
* Staking allows a larger number of users to participate actively in the network than mining does, and to become direct recipients of newly created ZEC from the blockchain. This increases the size and decentralization of the network of users and stakeholders.
* About the economic disadvantage of a smaller miner/validator/delegator competing with a larger operation:
  * In Proof-of-Work, smaller miners have a substantial economic disadvantage compared to larger mining operations.
  * In Proof-of-Stake, smaller validators have an economic disadvantage compared to larger validating services, but the disadvantage is not as pronounced as in Proof-of-Work mining.
  * In Proof-of-Stake, smaller delegators compete on a level playing field with larger delegators, earning roughly the same reward with roughly the same risk. (Note that delegators get less reward than validators.)

## Why use a Hybrid Proof-of-Stake plus Proof-of-Work system?

This file has been truncated. show original

januszgrze · December 18, 2024, 1:05am

thank you

Topic		Replies	Views
The Trailing Finality Layer protocol	25	4865	October 8, 2024
Zcash Poll: The Future of Consensus General	26	1384	April 1, 2024
Proof of Work Summit - Prague, Sep 25-27 Ecosystem Updates	9	757	August 26, 2023
Technical RFC: ZEC-NAM shielded airdrop mechanism Ecosystem Updates	10	1375	October 25, 2024
Zcash Node and lightwalletd Running PoC Proposal Applications	59	2628	February 3, 2021

Zcash Proof of Stake Megathread 🧵

Related topics