Embracing Hellman: A Simple Proof-of-Space Search consensus algorithm with stable block times using Logarithmic Embargo

Cryptocurrencies have become tremendously popular since the creation of Bitcoin. However, its central Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism is very power hungry. As an alternative, Proof-of-Space (PoS) was introduced that uses storage instead of computations to create a consensus. However, current PoS implementations are complex and sensitive to the Nothing-at-Stake problem, and use mitigations that affect their permissionless and decentralised nature. We introduce Proof-of-Space Search (PoSS) which embraces Hellman\u27s time-memory trade-off to create a much simpler algorithm that avoids the Nothing-at-Stake problem. Additionally, we greatly stabilise block-times using a novel dynamic Logarithmic Embargo (LE) rule. Combined, we show that PoSSLE is a simple and stable alternative to PoW with many of its properties, while being an estimated 10 times more energy efficient and sustaining consistent block times