Securing Dilithium with Proof-of-Time

This article is the fourth in a series of posts that gradually introduce the new Subspace consensus protocol and provide intuition behind its construction and design choices.

Subspace is powered by Dilithium — a lightweight and secure consensus mechanism that is environmentally friendly, permissionless, and fair. Dilithium is a Proof-of-Archival-Storage (PoAS), Nakamoto-style longest-chain consensus protocol based on proofs of storing the blockchain’s history. Dilithium is a second-generation PoAS consensus algorithm that uses erasure coding and KZG commitments for distributed archiving while combining polynomial encoding with an ASIC-resistant proof-of-space for plotting. The protocol represents a significant step forward in security and user experience for Subspace Network participants.

The previous episode provides a comprehensive overview of Dilithium consensus protocol, and I recommend reading it for background information. Episodes I and II provide a deep context behind Dilithium’s construction and will be useful to gain a complete understanding.

The current episode will provide an overview of how Dilithium is secured by a Proof-of-Time (PoT) component to introduce unpredictability and deter long-range attacks.


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