Proof of Work (PoW): The Traditional Model and Its Limitations

PoW laid the foundation for decentralized networks, but its drawbacks have become increasingly untenable in a world demanding scalable and sustainable solutions.

1. High Energy Consumption

PoW’s most notorious flaw is its staggering energy demands:

• Bitcoin’s mining network consumes approximately 120 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually—more than the entire nation of Argentina.

• Much of this energy comes from non-renewable sources, contributing to carbon emissions and raising ethical concerns about blockchain’s environmental impact.

This inefficiency stands in stark contrast to the Krown Blockchain’s PoS system, which slashes energy use by relying on staking rather than computational competition.

2. Centralization Risk

Despite blockchain’s decentralized ethos, PoW often leads to centralized control:

• Mining power concentrates in regions with cheap electricity, such as parts of China (pre-2021 ban) or large-scale operations in the U.S. and Russia.

• A handful of mining pools dominate: in Bitcoin, the top five pools frequently control over 50% of the hash rate, posing risks of collusion or network attacks.

The Krown Blockchain’s PoS model counters this by enabling a diverse validator pool, reducing the risk of centralized power and enhancing network resilience.

3. Barrier to Entry

PoW mining is inaccessible to the average user:

• Miners require specialized hardware like Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), costing thousands of dollars, plus ongoing expenses for electricity and cooling.

• This high cost excludes small-scale participants, concentrating mining power among wealthy entities.

Krown’s PoS system democratizes participation—anyone with Krown Coin can stake and earn rewards, fostering a more equitable network.

4. Scalability Issues

PoW struggles to handle growing demand:

• Bitcoin processes just 7 transactions per second (TPS), while Ethereum (pre-PoS) managed around 30 TPS—far below Visa’s thousands of TPS.

• Network congestion, like the CryptoKitties surge in 2017 that overwhelmed Ethereum, leads to slow confirmations and soaring fees.

The Krown Blockchain’s PoS design sidesteps these bottlenecks, enabling faster, cheaper transactions that scale with user needs.