₿itcoin on Nostr: In short, longest pow means more energy put into creating history. We assume that you ...
In short, longest pow means more energy put into creating history. We assume that you dont want to waste this energy, especially when you are also competing against others for the same goal.
So to be the longest chain, it needs to grow faster then any other chain. This means that it requires more computation then any other chain and therefore always a majority. Which is 51 percent.
The difficulty is basically finding a random value via complex mathematic formulas that starts with a given number of zeroes before any other symbol appears. Because a random value wont always give a value that starts with zeroes, it gets more difficult to find one if more zeroes are required. This is the difficulty of a block. If it cannot be verified to have this difficulty the block including reward wont be accepted.
And in an economy, you want your transaction or reward to be accepted because otherwise it has no value.
So to be the longest chain, it needs to grow faster then any other chain. This means that it requires more computation then any other chain and therefore always a majority. Which is 51 percent.
The difficulty is basically finding a random value via complex mathematic formulas that starts with a given number of zeroes before any other symbol appears. Because a random value wont always give a value that starts with zeroes, it gets more difficult to find one if more zeroes are required. This is the difficulty of a block. If it cannot be verified to have this difficulty the block including reward wont be accepted.
And in an economy, you want your transaction or reward to be accepted because otherwise it has no value.