An elliptic curve based Proof of Work implementation for sustainable cryptocurrency mining

Abstract

[en] The aim of this work is to study the foundations of cryptocurrencies and blockchains technologies with a critical mindset in terms of ecosostenibility. We begin with an an overview of how these emerging technologies work to then move onto the mathematical basis that cryptocurrencies build upon. Here we stop to study indepth the Elliptic curve discrete logarithm ECDLP, a classical problem in cryptography. We then study and give a concrete implementation of a novel and more sustainable mining algorithm based in the ECDLP. We compare the results with bitcoin’s mining algorithm by providing metrics for our algorithm and checking its feasibility. We then finish this work by giving an interface to this newly developed algorithm an encouraging its deployment in the future.