Description
This thesis analyzes the role of puzzles in blockchain-based distributed systems. It extracts the relevant properties from existing puzzle mechanisms and uses them to define an abstract notion for proof-of-work puzzles. The resulting puzzles have exponentially distributed solving time and allow to consider nodes and parties with individual solving capabilities. The the new definition of proof-of-work puzzles is used in a bottom-up construction of a blockchain protocol. The new model is compatible with the Bitcoin backbone protocol in the sense that the backbone protocol’s properties can be transferred to it.