Proof-of-Work: Ensuring Blockchain Security & Fairness

Proof-of-Work (PoW) is a consensus mechanism in blockchain that involves computationally intensive tasks to validate transactions and create new blocks.

What is Proof-of-Work?

Unlike fiat money, which is usually regulated by a central authority such as a bank, cryptocurrencies are decentralized. PoW ensures that many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, operate without government or company involvement.

This consensus mechanism is crucial to prevent double spending – ensuring that a coin or token is not used more than once for a transaction. It is the core process of adding new blocks to the Bitcoin blockchain and verifying transactions. Each time the network approves a block when the cryptocurrency miner successfully performs PoW after block.

For BTC, cryptocurrency miners are tasked with creating a hash that matches the current Bitcoin target. If the PoW is successful, miners receive a reward in the form of BTC.

The participant who achieves the goal first earns BTC. The reason PoW makes it difficult to tamper with any part of the blockchain is the fact that any change would require all blocks to be edited.