Is it really possible to burn coins by sending cryptocurrency to a different blockchain address? First of all the analogy doesn't really make sense compared to others if taken literally if you mint coins by mining them then you'd melt coins to take them out of circulation. But given what I know about blockchain technology I'm having a paradox breakdown trying to fathom how exactly such a thing is even possible. A blockchain ledger is file storage database, your public keys are serial numbers to represent your account in the form of transaction hashes and your private keys are signature power to authenticate moving of cryptocurrency within the blockchain ledger. Therefore let assume you could change the Bitcoin address within Bitcoin's scripting language to a different blockchain address such as a Dogecoin address. Your not really sending coins from one blockchain ledger to another. You are saying within the Bitcoin protocol I'm going to move my bitcoin within the file storage database to the Dogecoin blockchain ledger which is not even in the parameters of the Bitcoin protocol. Even though Dogecoin is a fork of Litecoin with it's codebase changed to use a scrypt algorithm you couldn't access the ledger within the Bitcoin protocol and vice-versa.
So where does this concept of Proof of Burn come from? First let's define:
Consensus Algorithm: is a procedure through which all the peers of the Blockchain network reach a common agreement about the present state of the distributed ledger. In this way, consensus algorithms help to achieve reliability in the Blockchain network and establish trust between unknown peers in a distributed computing environment. It make sure that every new block that is added to the Blockchain is the one and only version of the truth that is agreed upon by all the nodes in the Blockchain.
Proof of Work: this algorithm is used to select a miner for the next block generation. The idea behind the algorithm is to solve a complex mathematical puzzle that requires a lot of computational power to solve a solution. Thus, the node that solves the mathematical puzzle as soon as possible gets to mine the next block.
Proof of Burn: instead of investing in expensive hardware equipment, the validators burn coins by sending them to an address from where they are irretrievable. By committing the coins to an unreachable address, validators earn a privilege to mine on the system based on a random selection process.
Within a blockchain ledger you can make coins obsolete by sending them to a public address that nobody has the private keys for and your not really limiting supply but rendering a certain portion of it inaccessible. The laymen terms breakdown is don't send your Bitcoin to an Ethereum address because you will effectively burn your coins or make them irretrievable. But you can't change the parameters of the protocol by having an address that is not a Bitcoin address within the inputs and outputs in a transaction hash. To my knowledge it's not possible unless you can fool the protocol by using a blockchain ledger that is similar to Bitcoin such as Bitcoin Cash. At this point getting the Bitcoin back requires a process on the recipient's end. Have you ever tried to intentionally send crypto to the wrong blockchain ledger, were you successful?
