Proof of Witness: A Witness-Based Consensus Mechanism for Digital Currency Without Blockchain Mining

Abstract

We propose Proof of Witness (PoWit), a novel consensus mechanism for digital currency that replaces energy-intensive mining and capital-based staking with independent third-party witness verification. In PoWit, each transaction requires cryptographic signatures from three parties: sender, receiver, and a randomly selected witness. The witness validates the sender’s balance and transaction history before signing, eliminating the need for global consensus while maintaining security guarantees. Our simulation with 10,000 users demonstrates 100% double-spending prevention (n = 10, 000, 99% CI [99.93%, 100%]), 113.9 transactions per second, and complete chain integrity. The non-selective witness assignment achieves theoretical randomness with only 0.27% deviation, making collusion attacks impractical. PoWit offers a sustainable alternative to Proof of Work and Proof of Stake, with significantly lower energy consumption and fairer participation model.