An Implementation of Lattice-based Proof-of-Work on Blockchain

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are skyrocketing in recent years. They rely on Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanisms for generating a new transaction and turn this process into ”work” (i.e., puzzles) where miners are paid for. With the advent of quantum computers, also PoW starts to migrate to post-quantum cryptographic alternatives. To the best of our knowledge, we present the first implementation of a lattice-based PoW based on the Shortest Vector Problem (SVP). By implementing in Python 3 and with the use of the NumPy library, we wrote a software that uses this concept on an artificial blockchain and demonstrates its real-world use. Even if this proposal has drawbacks on GPU optimisation and storage requirements, it shows its potential in use. The experimental results show that by balancing the size and generated range of a given matrix and vector, we can easily manipulate the time required to solve SVP challenge.