Proof-of-Time (PoT)

What Is Proof-of-Time (PoT)?

PoT consensus relies on the verifiable delay function (VDF) to pick block proposers (time electors) and block confirmers (time nodes) pseudorandomly. As long as a node has accumulated a high ranking score and has staked an equal amount of tokens, it has a higher chance of being pseudo-randomly selected to propose or confirm blocks.

The Proof-of-Time Process

The entire Proof-of-Time consensus mechanism is a two-step process and consists of four categories of nodes.

• Publishers- nodes that submit event data to the main chain
• Time Electors - nodes that propose blocks on the main chain
• Time Nodes - nodes that confirm blocks to the main chain
• Tesseract Nodes - nodes that participate in the interoperability processes

Process:

• Soft Voting - This stage begins when the broadcaster submits event data to the network. A randomly selected time elector is then responsible for collating the submitted event data, verifying its signature, and computing VDF. Once accomplished, the time elector relays the hashed event data and the VDF proof to the remainder of the time nodes.
• Hard Voting - As soon as the time nodes receive the data, it triggers the hard voting phase. In this phase, a committee of 1,000 time nodes (all of whom are selected via VDF) jointly determines if the submitted transaction is valid. If the majority of the time nodes vote to accept the proposed block, it gets appended to the main chain.

Author Bio