<i>e-PoS</i>: Making Proof-of-Stake Decentralized and Fair

Abstract

Blockchain applications that rely on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) have increasingly become energy inefficient with a staggering carbon footprint. In contrast, energy efficient alternative consensus protocols such as Proof-of-Stake (PoS) may cause centralization and unfairness in the blockchain system. To address these challenges, we propose a modular version of PoS-based blockchain systems called e-PoS that resists the centralization of network resources by extending mining opportunities to a wider set of stakeholders. Moreover, e-PoS leverages the in-built system operations to promote fair mining practices by penalizing malicious entities. We validate e-PoS 's achievable objectives through theoretical analysis and simulations. Our results show that e-PoS ensures fairness and decentralization, and can be applied to existing blockchain applications.