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.

中文翻译：

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e-PoS：使权益证明去中心化和公平

依赖工作量证明 (PoW) 的区块链应用程序的能源效率越来越低，碳足迹惊人。相比之下，诸如权益证明（PoS）之类的节能替代共识协议可能会导致区块链系统的中心化和不公平。为了应对这些挑战，我们提出了一个模块化版本的基于 PoS 的区块链系统，称为 e-PoS，它通过将挖矿机会扩展到更广泛的利益相关者来抵制网络资源的集中化。此外，e-PoS 利用内置系统操作通过惩罚恶意实体来促进公平挖矿实践。我们通过理论分析和模拟验证 e-PoS 的可实现目标。我们的结果表明，e-PoS 确保了公平性和去中心化，并且可以应用于现有的区块链应用程序。