Massive amounts of digital ink have been spilled over the UASF/UAHF Bitcoin conundrum, and as the Aug. 1 deadline approaches, undoubtedly more will come. What’s more, the Ethereum and Bitcoin mining communities are notorious for energy usage that exceeds that of small nations.
With all the chaos of miners bickering and competition for support increasing, FairCoin has activated a new Blockchain system that eliminates the need for energy-intensive mining and reduces the risk of competition-based forks. The goal is to create nodes based on cooperation rather than competition, therefore eliminating the need for heavy mining energy usage and high transaction costs.
The basic principle is that transactional blocks are generated, not via mining, but via Cooperatively Validated Nodes or CVNs. Because competition is eliminated, the cost of creating the node is low, and the fees for transactions are virtually zero. Thomas Konig, FairCoin developer, says:
“Two years ago I became aware of the enormous demand for energy and the concentration of power around some pool operators in the Bitcoin network. I thought that there must be a better way to do it. Why not try to let nodes co-operate instead of competing to generate blocks? A profound assumption of the new system is that co-operation is more efficient than competition.”
Whether this system of cooperative Blockchain is viable remains to be seen, but with energy costs increasing, FairCoin may be onto something.