Hard disk space is employed as part of the Proof of Capacity (PoC) consensus process, a novel technique for verifying transactions in cryptocurrency mining. PoC is gaining popularity as a substitute for the energy-intensive Proof of Work (PoW) mining technique, which needs a lot of processing power to calculate difficult mathematical calculations. PoW was effective when Bitcoin was young, but as the network has expanded, it has gotten more and more difficult, requiring the most powerful computers to mine it. Small mining companies have found it impossible to compete as a result, raising worries about network decentralization.
PoC is quicker than PoW because it demands miners to commit their computing power and hard drive space before mining can start. PoC produces a block in less than half the time of PoW, which takes roughly 10 minutes. The fact that a miner has a greater probability of winning the mining dispute the more solutions or plots they have also helps to solve the hashing problem in PoW.
Plotting and mining are two parts of the PoC process. A hard disk is first plotted, and then every nonce value that might possibly exist is hashed, yielding a list of 8192 hashes that are then coupled into "scoops." The actual mining occurs in the second stage, when a scoop number is determined and the information from that scoop is utilized to determine a deadline value. To receive the block reward, the miner selects the deadline value that is the shortest.
The team behind Burstcoin, a cryptocurrency that employs Proof-of-Concept, intends to investigate application cases like payment solutions, smart contracts, crowdsourcing, and random messages. BXTB, a platform that employs both PoC and PoW tokens and is backed by the BXTB company, uses PoC to generate its governance token while Permacoin uses PoW to provide a dependable, decentralized storage system.
PoW, which consumes a lot of energy and precludes smaller mining operations, is replaced with a workable solution in PoC. The more plots a miner has, the higher their chances of winning the mining fight. With PoC, individuals may mine cryptocurrency utilizing the hard drive space they already have available. PoC has gained popularity, and more projects are looking at its possibilities, even if it is only employed by a handful cryptocurrencies at the moment.
