Mining on Mobile Phones

Proof-of-Work is the core principle behind many blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The idea behind it is simple: a node, in order to win the game and earn something, has to compete with all other nodes. There is only one thing that guarantees success in the competition: its CPU power. The faster and more expensive the computer, the higher the chances that it will find the nonce for the next block.

There are over 9,000 “nodes” in Bitcoin at the moment. They close 144 blocks every day. Each closed block gives the founder of the nonce exactly 12.5 BTC. Each node is a group of pretty expensive ASICs, and it has to compete against all other nodes. In total, there are over three million machines in the network. To help each other, and increase chances, node owners “pool” their resources. The overall cost of all Bitcoin nodes at the moment is already over $500m.

It seems that this arms race is a predictable result of a central ledger. Every node is trying to get into the ledger with its own block, and only one of them succeeds. Low-cost equipment, like a commodity server or a laptop, won’t stand a chance. The hardware has to be expensive. Not just expensive, but more expensive than the other nodes.

Zold, even though it also relies on the same Proof-of-Work principle, doesn’t have a central ledger. Each wallet has its own list of transactions and there is no reason for nodes to compete with the entire network in order to earn fees (known as “taxes”). With Zold they compete with just a few of their neighbor machines. Who gets the reward is decided by the paying wallet owner.

Thanks to this significant architectural advantage, Zold nodes can be, and will be, hosted on low-cost hardware, starting from cloud 2-4 CPUs virtual servers down to mobile phones, TV sets, and even watches.

Instead of wasting the planet’s resources on expensive equipment dedicated solely to transaction processing, Zold is offering a much wiser and greener alternative: use existing hardware, including our mobile phones and tablets. They’re not doing anything important most of the time anyway.

Aside from this, with many millions of devices, it will be almost impossible to 51%-attack the network. There are no mining pools in Zold and no centralized control of resources. Consequently, Zold is the only truly decentralized and distributed cryptocurrency, where wallet owners are the real owners of their digital money.