Proof of Work (PoW)
By CoinGecko | Updated on Mar 03, 2020
An algorithm that rewards the first person that solves a computational problem (i.e. mining) to achieve distributed consensus. Miners compete to solve difficult cryptographic puzzles in order to add the next block on the blockchain. It prevents spam and cyber attacks such as DDoS as it requires work (i.e. processing time) from the service requester.
Related Terms
Mineable
A cryptocurrency is said to be "mineable" when it has the system thrugh which miners can be rewarded with newly-created cryptocurrencies for creating blocks.
Whale
Someone who holds an enormous amount of cryptocurrency and has the ability to wave the market
Merkle Tree
A Merkle tree is also known as a hash tree in cryptography. It is a tree where every lead node is labelled with cryptographic hash of a data block, and every non-leaf node is labelled with the hash of the labels of its child nodes. It is used to verify of data stored within it and transferable in and between computers.
Wash Trade
Meaningless back and forth trading between a single party with the aim of inflating trade volume.
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