RTPoW: A Proof-of-Work Consensus Scheme with Real-Time Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm

Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency system, uses a simple but effective difficulty adjustment algorithm to stabilize its average time of the block creation at 10 minutes. Over time, the volatility of the Bitcoin price has become higher and higher, and it causes the total hashrate (the hash power of the entire network) constantly fluctuating. Both facts and our experimental results prove that Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment algorithm cannot respond in time while the total hashrate is constantly fluctuating. Hence, we propose a consensus protocol with a real-time difficulty adjustment algorithm, RTPoW. RTPoW allows the blockchain to adjust the difficulty target of each block by predicting the real-time total hashrate, so the block time can remain stable even if the total hashrate is wildly fluctuating. To evaluate the effect of RTPoW, we implemented a simulator of an experimental environment and tested our algorithm. The results obtained have confirmed its effectiveness and stability.