Ask anything under the sun!

What is proof-of-work

Proof-of-Work, or PoW for short, is like a really tough game that computers play to earn the right to add new information to something called a blockchain. Imagine you're playing a game of bingo, but instead of numbers being called out, you have to solve complex math problems. The first computer (or miner) to solve the problem gets to shout "Bingo!" and win the round. This winning miner then gets the right to add new blocks of transactions (or information) to the blockchain.

But why does it have to be so hard? Well, it's kind of like a security guard at a concert. This guard doesn't let just anyone backstage - they have to prove they have a backstage pass (or in this case, that they've done the work). By making it hard for computers, it's also really hard for naughty people who might want to mess with our blockchain concert.

So there you have it! Proof-of-Work is essentially a system where computers compete against each other in solving complex puzzles. The winner gets the privilege of adding new blocks of transactions onto the blockchain. This system ensures that no one can cheat or falsify transactions because doing so would require an enormous amount of computing power - more than half of all the computing power on the entire network!