Topic: Proof of Work is the right consensus mechanism for exchanging value trustlessly - page 2. (Read 323 times)

Not exactly.

Although there is a minimum 32 ETH to become a validator, you can join a pool with basically any value.


You can see in ethereum.org website many pools from 0.01 to any eth minimum.

As basically all small miners join pool in BTC, we should compare BTC pools with ETH pools.

Ironically the minimum staking requirements that come with most PoS schemes makes the barrier for entry even higher than PoW.

It does work, and now with the launch of Ethereum 2.0 with Proof of Stake we will see if is there any alternative that will really work.



This is not true.

"Verifiers" do not receive merit neither reputation.
The correct term is "miners", and they receive only bitcoin as a reward for their processing power and energy costs. This is not dependent of a "high degree of accuracy in a certain period of time", they just join a pool and receive rewards proportional to their processing power.

A low barrier to entry is considered optimal, but not a necessity.  The way in which Bitcoin has evolved since the early days would appear to suggest that PoW is still viable even when the barriers to entry become greater.  Mining is a highly competitive environment.  As the "arms race" escalated from single to multiple CPUs, and then to GPUs and on to ASICs, it becomes more and more costly for the average network participant to get involved with mining.  Many would now consider it an unaffordable endeavour.  But it clearly still works, providing the correct alignment of incentives is in place.

It's also worth stating that Proof of Work is only one element of the equation.  By itself, it doesn't guarantee a viable chain. 

Proof of Work is the only proper/true Consensus Mechanism for approving and exchanging value for a work done in a Trustless Network


Proof of Work is simply about requiring proof that a work has been properly done (or a problem has been solved) before the worker who solves the problem receives reward. That is the right thing to do when dealing with workers in work environments that require little to no trust to participate. It's about requiring everyone to freely solve available problem in a competitive way, but the one with the proven/right solution get rewarded. That is how it should be in a Network that wants to be truely decentralized rather than placing hugh barriers to entry on people who are interested in solving available problems. The barriers to entry could be inform of requiring certain amount of money/stake that is unaffordable to majority of interested people as it is with typical Proof of Stake (PoS) .  
With the right PoW anyone can aswell be a verifier in the consensus mechanism without high barrier to entry problem. Verifiers could also earn some reward in a more advanced PoW when they achieve high degree of accuracy in a certain period of time. The reward does not necessarily have to be financial, it could be inform of good/positive Reputation, Merit etc

In conclusion, a proper Consensus Mechanism for a truly Decentralized Network needs to have low barrier to entry for interested participants. Anyone should be able to easily participate fully in network consensus as long as they have full access to network database by running full nodes and making sure that works are done right. PoW keeps the network more decentralized and secure... and most importantly it doesn't violate other important principles of Blockchain or Decentralized Network.
 The Right or Proper Consensus Mechanism is PoW as it achieves Network Consensus for a decentralized and trustless system without creating more problems like PoS does.