Hello everyone,

Its another beautiful week, with an educative topic. Here is my homework with the help of @alphafx.

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This week, @alphafx thought us about consensus algorithms which can be said to be the most important component that strictly dictate how a system behaves and the performance it can achieve. However, A distributed system like blockchain relies on consensus algorithms because it ensure agreement on the state of some certain data among distributed nodes says Google.

On the other hand, consensus algorithms can be define as a mechanism that requires miners to solve tangled cryptographic mathematical puzzle for which the first miners to solve the puzzle get rewarded. We have types of consensus algorithms some are listed below.

• (POW) - Proof of Work
• (POS) - Proof of Stake

Proof Of work -

POW is said to be the godfather of blockchain consensus algorithms. Proof of work is a system which involve solving puzzles to validate and create block but first miners to complete and solve the puzzles get rewarded. In (POW) the protocol set out rules and conditions of what makes a block valid. It state the things needed for a block to be valid.

Proof Of Stake -

POS is a system created as an alternative to Proof of work. In this system, miner's power is held into the hand of the stakeholders I.e. those that hold the coin. And gives power based on the percentage of coin they are holding.

In this week class, @alphafx also thought us that, Consensus Algorithm is a sequence of well implemented codes, used to maintain the integrity of data in the blockchain. And my home work is to write a post about any of consensus algorithms extensively. I choose to write a post about Proof of capacity under consensus algorithms.

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Proof of capacity (POC) can be discribe as a piece of data like a prove that a prover sends to a verifier for a confirmation that a certain amount of space have been reserved. POC is a mining system that allows the miner's who are also known as nodes to use empty space on their hard drive to mine on hand cryptocurrency I.e. available cryptocurrencies.

On the other hand, Proof of Capacity is a consensus mechanism algorithm device used in blockchains. The first and only coin to use Proof of capacity is called Burstcoin. Busrtcoin make effective use of the empty space on a miner's hard drive for mining. Proof of Capacity allows for mining of device in the network to use the on hand ( i.e. available) space to validate transaction and to decide mining rights.

However, Proof of Capacity is very comparible to Proof Of Works, expect one of their functions that is different. In Proof of Capacity (POS) Instead of computation, storage is used.

Key point

• Miner's are allow to use empty space to mine any cryptocurrency.

• Proof Of Capacity is the consensus mechanism that is first and only use by Burstcoin

• POC is like POW but it uses free storage instead of computation.

• Proof of capacity allow miner to use free space to validate transaction and to mining rights.

• Proof of Capacity can also be a piece of data used as an evidence of confirmation. It can also be called Proof of Space.

How does it works

Proof of work is a system made up of two different Componenet. Which are

• Plotting
• Mining

These involves plotting and mining on the hard drive.

Plotting

This is the First stage on the hard drive before mining. It firstly involve plotting of hard drive. After when you have plotted the hard drive, create a plot file because we are producing nouce.

The list of nonce is created through continually hashing of data, Including the miner's account and each nonce contain 8192 hashes. Plotting make use of an hashing function called Shabal. Nonce is numbered from 0 to 8192 and are bundled together into a term called "Scoop". Total of scoop asign to that unique number is 4095.

Mining

Mining on the hard drive is the second step to take after plotting. Mining is a task to be done by miner's, it an exercise that inlvove calculating scoop number which is between 0 and 4095. The result of the scoop data will be use to calculate the deadline value.

The deadline calculation will continually repeated to complete all the nonce that are on your hard drive and the shortest number or data will then be chosen.

The meaning of deadline is the latest time or day in which a task or something should be completed. If the deadline you are able to provide is shorter than other miner's, then the system will give you chance to create a new block and also get rewarded for the work done.

Advantages of Proof of Capacity

• Data storage can be reused because it is easy to format mining data.

• Proof of Capacity can make use of any hardware for storage including those with Android based system.

• There is no need to be constantly upgrading hard drive or dedicating hardware.

Disadvantages of Proof of Capacity

• There is possibility for malfare to affect mining activities and the main difference will be that, you may see some of your hard drive space as being taken.

• (POC) which is Proof of Capacity as not been adopted by many developer.

In conclusion, Proof of Capacity is a system where miners plot on a hard drive before they can perform any transactions. My sincere appreciation goes to Prof. @alphafx for bringing up this topic and also to people that will be viewing my post.

Thank you!