We’re very proud to announce Ouroboros Genesis, a new paper from the IOHK research team. This latest version of Ouroboros, the algorithm powering Cardano, is a step forward in the cryptography that powers cryptocurrency systems.
For the first time, new users joining the blockchain can bootstrap from the genesis block, and do not need a checkpoint block or any prior knowledge of the number of users active in the system. This feature was previously not possible in proof of stake distributed ledgers while it was a hallmark of proof-of-work protocols. This means that Ouroboros can now match the security guarantees of proof-of-work protocols like Bitcoin in a way that was previously thought infeasible.
This advancement is the culmination of a research path that systematically tackled challenges in proof of stake, beginning with Ouroboros, progressing to Ouroboros Praos, and now reaching Ouroboros Genesis.
The Ouroboros research, led by Professor Aggelos Kiayias, IOHK Chief Scientist, has been developed with a rigorous discipline. Ouroboros was peer reviewed by the leading cryptography conference, Crypto 2017, and Ouroboros Praos is similarly due to be presented at sister event Eurocrypt 2018 next week. The research is being progressively implemented in Cardano.
Learn more by watching Aggelos present the Ouroboros Genesis research
and reading the research paper, Composable Proof-of-Stake Blockchains with Dynamic Availability.