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Amazon acquires Proof-of-Work Patent
- Mass Adoption LLC.
- May 17, 2019
- 3 min read
Jeremy D. Guzman | Co-Founder & CEO of Mass Adoption LLC.
This week Amazon successfully filed and acquired a US patent for a Proof-of-Work (#PoW) system utilizing cryptography to create Merkle Trees.
Very Brief Explanation on Merkle Trees.
For those who aren't familiar with the terminology, Merkle Trees are essential to blockchain technology. They're recognized as a key-structure towards facilitating efficient verifications of large bodies of data. Thus, the executed transactions are compiled into blocks and are assigned digital fingerprints - known as hashes - allowing the user(s) to verify whether or not the transaction was indeed successful (or not). These hashes are then stored into leaf nodes, which are then given a Root Hash (aka Merkle Root). The Root Hash/Merkle Root outlines all of the data related within the transaction(s), which is then stored in the block header; maintaining the overall integrity of the provided data.
Proof-of-Work explained - as simply as possible.
Recognized as the original consensus mechanism to be implemented in a Blockchain network (e.g. Bitcoin), proof-of-work (PoW) allows for the confirmation and production of new blocks to the chain. These blocks (groups of trust-less transactions) are generated with the assistance of miners, in which compete against one another to verify transactions, and prevent double spending attacks. The miner(s) that succeed in this verification process is rewarded with a miners reward ( a combination of Bitcoin's block reward and transaction fees). Upon verification, the transactions are then broadcasted onto the network's distributed ledger, known as the blockchain, and can be viewed by anyone & everyone. Thus, the miner(s) must do "work" - using computational processing power - to prove that the executed transactions are valid.
How Does Amazon Benefit from this?
Via the submitted patent, Amazon will utilize the proof-of-work mechanism to generate potential solutions to avoid any denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. These DoS attacks occur when an attacker aims to deplete a network's resources; hindering the site's overall performance, while resulting in a temporary or indefinite disruption of service(s). With this, according to Amazon,
"a valid proof-of-work may mitigate DOS or DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks by causing the participants of the DOS or DDOS attack to generate a valid proof-of-work solution, which may require the use of computational resources on the attacking systems and dramatically reduce the rate at which entities participating in the attack may send requests."
In other words, the implementation of PoW can minimize the frequency of such attacks via Merkle Tree generation. Furthermore, this is extremely beneficial to Amazon because it will protect the integrity of the operating ecosystem; providing another layer of security and trust.
Closing Remarks
Amazon is no stranger to the blockchain space, especially after launching its cloud computing unit - Amazon Web Services (AWS); allowing for potential commercial/enterprise clients to implement blockchain technology via open-source projects such as: Hyperledger Fabric, Ontology, BlockApps, Quorum, Corda, Vechain, etc. Such innovations, can truly propel the mass adoption of blockchain tech. to unprecedented heights. Moreover, it is fair to keep in mind that not only does Amazon have a successful cloud computing service, but they also manage multiple subsidiaries that can benefit from blockchain integration:
Whole Foods
Ring: Home Security Systems
Zappos
Pill Pack
Amazon Robotics - formerly known as Kiva Systems
Audible
With this being said, do not be surprised if the aforementioned companies begin utilizing blockchain solutions to improve their supply chain management operations, logistics reporting, and payment registry.
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