abstract.tex

\begin{abstract}
  We propose a modification to the fork choice rule of proof-of-work blockchains.
  Instead of choosing the heaviest chain, we choose the chain with the most
  \emph{intrinsic work}. The intrinsic work of a block is roughly the number of
  zeroes at the front of its hash. This modification allows us to safely
  speed up the protocol,
  yielding a roughly $40\%$ improvement in \emph{confirmation delay} as compared
  to Bitcoin for adversaries close to $10\%$.
  Our modification is at the
  level of the proof-of-work inequality, and thus can be composed with
  any other methods to improve latency
  proposed in the literature (e.g., GHOST).
  We compile detailed simulation evidence from $3{,}000$ years of
  simulated executions of our system across different parameters.
  We formally prove the
  security of our new protocol in the Bitcoin Backbone model.
  These proofs use a new technical tool, the \emph{real-valued Random Oracle}
  which may be of independent interest.
\end{abstract}