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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Guan, Chong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.07632
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author Guan, Chong
author_facet Guan, Chong
contents Proof-of-Work (PoW) is a fundamental method in decentralized digital networks for establishing consensus on a shared ledger. By requiring network participants to solve a mathematical puzzle, PoW maintains network integrity. However, PoW has raised environmental concerns due to its significant energy consumption. This paper introduces Proof-of-Encryption-Work (PoEW), a novel PoW consensus mechanism that repurposes computational power to address the challenge of encryption-based data compression. PoEW uses an exhaustive key search as the PoW puzzle. Given a lengthy plaintext and a fixed ciphertext, the corresponding key is derived. Since the plain-text is much longer than both the key and the ciphertext, this process compresses the plaintext to the key. This data compression is computationally intensive, while decompression is straightforward.
format Preprint
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publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle PoEW:Encryption as Consensus and Enabling Data Compression Services?
Guan, Chong
Cryptography and Security
Proof-of-Work (PoW) is a fundamental method in decentralized digital networks for establishing consensus on a shared ledger. By requiring network participants to solve a mathematical puzzle, PoW maintains network integrity. However, PoW has raised environmental concerns due to its significant energy consumption. This paper introduces Proof-of-Encryption-Work (PoEW), a novel PoW consensus mechanism that repurposes computational power to address the challenge of encryption-based data compression. PoEW uses an exhaustive key search as the PoW puzzle. Given a lengthy plaintext and a fixed ciphertext, the corresponding key is derived. Since the plain-text is much longer than both the key and the ciphertext, this process compresses the plaintext to the key. This data compression is computationally intensive, while decompression is straightforward.
title PoEW:Encryption as Consensus and Enabling Data Compression Services?
topic Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.07632