A Strategy to Improvise Coin-age Selection in the Proof of Stake Consensus Algorithm

Abstract

Proof of stake is one of the consensus protocols in Blockchain technology. Within PoS, there are two common strategies employed for validator selection: Coin-age selection and Randomized block selection. However, both of these strategies have drawbacks when it comes to ensuring a fair selection of validators, leading to a phenomenon known as the "rich getting richer" syndrome. The paper proposes a new consensus algorithm that introduces a novel parameter: The time stamp of staking tokens. Staking tokens are those minted by validators to participate in the staking process. By considering the timestamp of staking tokens minted before participating in the staking procedure, the proposed algorithm aims to address the shortcomings of the existing strategies. The algorithm seeks to eliminate the loopholes in the coin-age selection method and enhances it in terms of precision. Additionally, it aims to increase the randomness in choosing a validator, thereby mitigating the rich-getting-richer syndrome.