Massnet

The MASS consensus mechanism is intended to be the underlying infrastructure for all levels of blockchain consensus.

Based on the Proof-of-Capacity consensus protocol, the MASS consensus mechanism creates a consensus layer that is unfettered, fair, energy efficient, secure, and universal, providing the fundamental security of the public chain.

The stability of Bitcoin proves that a practical Byzantine Internet-scale fault-tolerant system is possible, and the reliability of the system is guaranteed by its consensus protocol. However, the use of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm in the Bitcoin system has raised serious concerns about the expansion of its network. These concerns include:

1. Since the PoW algorithm cannot separate the selection process of the presented block from the block construction protocol, this means that hash power cannot be reused for consensus across multiple chains.

2. The PoW algorithm that Bitcoin uses risks falling into a game between an increasingly centralized network and a handful of oligarchs who have successfully monopolized computing resources.

3. With the incredible growth of the network, a huge amount of energy is constantly being expended solely to maintain it.

4. The dominance of ASICs among miners has created huge barriers to entry and made mining inaccessible to ordinary users.

A basic infrastructure is needed to serve all levels of blockchain consensus; a level of consensus that does not require permission is fair, energy efficient, safe and universal.

The MASS blockchain consensus mechanism will separate the consensus layer from the block validation protocol, so the same mining network can act as a consensus service for multiple blockchain instances. In this article, we propose a highly efficient Proof-of-Capacity (PoC) consensus protocol and an innovative blockchain system based on it. This system has a new design and several interesting economic mechanisms to help expand the network of matched motors at cold start. This blockchain system has many advantages such as lack of access rights, 51% fault tolerance, natural tendency towards decentralization.

Proof-of-Capacity (PoC) is a consensus mechanism based on providing proof of storage space. In the PoC consensus algorithm, when a node sends a block to the network, it must also provide a valid proof of capacity. It is very difficult for a node to create a valid proof of capacity without an appropriate storage size, and any node in the network can verify this proof. If both the block data and the proof are valid, the block will be accepted by the rest of the network.

The basic principle of providing evidence is as follows: in the initialization phase, a set of data is generated according to the protocol and stored in the storage capacity. When a new block is to be generated, a portion of this stored data is revealed based on the value of the random number. This data is then used to create a proof and the node can compete for the next block.

The process consists of five steps:

1. initialization,

2. block building,

3. receive block,

4. choice of the main chain,

5. punishment mechanism.

Bitcoin uses the set of unspent transactions (UTXO) to keep track of output transactions that have not yet been spent and thus can be used as input to new transactions.

Bitcoin full nodes keep a copy of the UTXO set in order to validate transactions and create new ones without having to validate the entire block chain. The MASS blockchain system uses many of the design ideas of UTXO, but also contains some innovations to better adapt to our economic mechanism. A transaction has two main parts: the transaction input (which is quoted) and the transaction output (where the transaction is executed). Each transaction contains one or more "inputs", which are similar to debiting a MASS account. On the other side of the transaction, there are one or more "outputs", which are like credits added to a MASS account. Inputs and outputs (debit and credit) do not necessarily amount to the same amount. Instead, the outputs add up to slightly less than the inputs, and the difference is the implied transaction fee.

There are three main types of transactions in the MASS blockchain system: regular transactions, staking transactions, and pegging transactions. A regular transaction is a normal token transfer operation. A staking transaction consists of freezing the transaction rights of a token up to a certain block height. When a batch transaction is boxed, the transaction can only be spent after the block height reaches the given height. A binding transaction is the binding of token ownership to an address in capacity space.

The output of a regular transaction uses "Pay-to-Witness-Script-Hash" (P2WSH). Complex scripts are replaced with shorter fingerprints in the transaction output, which reduces the size of the transaction. Scripts can be encoded as an address, so the sender and sender's wallet do not need complex development to implement P2WSH. P2WSH passes the cost of the long script fee from the sender to the recipient, who must include a long redemption script in order to spend it. The script executed by the virtual machine is <Sig> 1 <PubKey> 1 OP_CHECKMULTISIG. Figure 1 shows the structure of a typical transaction in the MASS blockchain system.

Staking transaction output extended based on P2WSH. The difference between staking transactions and regular transactions is the output. The script executed by the virtual machine is <lockheight> OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY OP_DROP <Sig> 1 <PubKey> 1 OP_CHECKMULTISIG. Figure 2 shows the structure of a staking transaction in the MASS blockchain system.

Binding transaction output is also extended based on P2WSH. The script executed by the virtual machine is <Sig> 1 <Pubkey> 1 OP_CHECKMULTISIG. Figure 3 shows the transaction binding structure in the MASS blockchain system.

The MASS blockchain system is structured as a peer-to-peer network architecture on top of the Internet. The term peer-to-peer means that the computers that participate in the network are peers of each other, that they are all equal, that there are no "special" nodes, and that all nodes share the burden of providing network services. Network nodes are connected in a mesh network with a "flat" topology. There is no server, no centralized service, and no hierarchy within the network. Nodes in a P2P network simultaneously provide and consume services, with reciprocity acting as an incentive to participate. P2P networks are inherently resilient, decentralized and open.

Any new consensus mechanism requires an effective incentive system for growth and sustainability. This system of incentives must be designed in such a way that the actions of each individual participant, pursuing their own rational interests, also serve the interests of the system as a whole and lead to a highly distributed and stable network of consensus.

There will only be 206,438,400 MASS in circulation and they will be issued over 15 periods. When moving to a new period, the total reward for each block will be halved, and the duration of the period will be doubled compared to the previous one. The first halving will occur at block height 13440, and after all MASS are released (which should take over 600 years), transaction fees will act as an incentive for people to continue supporting the MASS network.

In order to maintain the stable and secure operation of the MASS blockchain and promote the growth of the MASS consensus mechanism ecosystem, 1024 block rewards will be issued with each MASS block before the first halving.

A miner who creates a new block through PoC mining receives 192 MASS as a base reward.

By splitting, you can freeze a certain amount of MASS until a given block height is reached. At the time of the bet, this amount of MASS cannot be transferred and fixed in place. To provide an incentive to do so, all members who place MASS bets have the opportunity to earn wagering rewards. The rate choice can be seen as an expression of the MASS holders' confidence in the system's long-term stability.

Each stake is assigned a weight based on its total cost and time (in blocks) before it becomes available again. The weight assigned to each staking address is calculated from the sum of all ongoing staking transactions associated with that address. For each block, 192 MASS will be issued as a reward for placing up to 30 staking addresses. The distribution of rewards is determined by the respective weight of staking addresses.

Due to the inherently secure nature of the Proof-of-Capacity method and blockchain consensus, MASS has the extremely high level of security that users have come to expect. Proof-of-Capacity is protected in the following ways:

-Evidence cannot be tampered with: the PoC MASS algorithm uses a trade-off between time and memory. If the prover provides a proof of the capacity S, this would show that the prover filled the capacity S in accordance with these rules, which would be very difficult to calculate quickly.

-51% fault tolerance: When competing for the next block, each node looks for the proof corresponding to the current block in its own initialized storage space. The probability that a node generates a new block is proportional to the ratio between the initialized capacity of the entire network and the initialized capacity of the current node. If a malicious node intends to take control of block generation, it will require at least 51% of the power of the entire network. However, in order to have a capacity of more than 51%, the investment in physical hardware would be enormous. Therefore, malicious nodes do not have sufficient incentives to violate the MASS consensus.

-Random target value unpredictability: In the MASS PoC algorithm, each block provides a random value as a target for the initialized capacity of all nodes. This random value is generated by a verified random function and no node can control this. Therefore, with the same block height, all nodes have the same a priori information when competing for the next block.

The blockchain consensus protocol is secure in the following ways:

-Fork Resilience: A Fork Penalty Scheme protects against No-Stake Attacks that split the chain. Since MASS uses the Proof-ofCapacity algorithm, it will be at risk of Nothing-at-Stake attacks without proper security measures in place. That is, proof S can be used as proof in the main chain as well as in the fork at the same time at no additional cost. To deal with this risk, the MASS system uses a fork detection penalty scheme. If a main chain block and a forked chain block are found to have the same proof, all nodes will automatically blacklist the public key used in initialization for that storage capacity and reject subsequent proofs provided from it.

-Resilience to self-sufficient mining: In a proof-of-work consensus mechanism, a malicious node can gain a time advantage in the fight for the next block by hiding blocks that have already been mined. However, in the MASS blockchain consensus protocol, initialized nodes can find proofs exceptionally quickly, so there is no room for this type of strategy.

-Double Spending Transaction Resilience: The MASS system uses a UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) transaction model that is protected by asymmetrically encrypted math algorithms. Block rollback is guaranteed by 51% Byzantine fault tolerance of the PoC algorithm.

The MASS blockchain system has the following features:

-Security: Using the principle of sharing memory and time, the PoC protocol ensures the incorruptibility of evidence, and together with the use of a verifiable random function, ensures that the MASS system has 51% Byzantine fault tolerance. In addition, the fork detection penalty scheme protects the main chain from "nothing at stake" attacks that can break the main chain.

-Fair: The MASS PoC consensus protocol ensures that the probability of a node generating a block depends only on the proof of its effectiveness provided by the node. In addition, the proof of effective capacity is independent of the media, so that all nodes participating in the MASS network have the same marginal cost.

-Energy Efficient: In the MASS PoC protocol, computing resources are required only when initializing storage capacity, and when entering the block consensus phase, storage capacity data is only accessed at O(1) complexity at a time. Therefore, using the MASS PoC protocol for block consensus does not require constant power consumption. When the MASS system performs block consensus, the computational resources used are negligible; small enough not to affect the normal use of the computer. When storage capacity is not participating in the MASS network, it can be reformatted and used for other purposes.

-Generic: During the negotiation process, the node only needs to make an access request to the initialized capacity and does not perform any data operations on it. Thus, the same storage space can provide proof capacity for multiple blockchain consensus instances, and nodes using the MASS PoC protocol can simultaneously support multiple blockchain instances in parallel.

The MASS consensus mechanism is intended to be the underlying infrastructure for all levels of blockchain consensus.

The MASS consensus mechanism is intended to be the underlying infrastructure for all levels of blockchain consensus.

Based on the Proof-of-Capacity consensus protocol, the MASS consensus mechanism creates a consensus layer that is unfettered, fair, energy efficient, secure, and universal, providing the fundamental security of the public chain.