PoW WoW

Proof of Concept of a NIP-13 Delegated PoW protocol
using WebLN and Alby

An experimental protocol
to buy and sell Nostr PoW

sats
seconds
of posting the Ask.
Recent trades
Ask by Created at Difficulty Message Price (sats) PoWs Received
Legend: PoW Statuses

Legend: Provider Reputation

FAQ

Who are the sats going to?

Each blinded PoW comes together with an invoice issued by the miner. The sats are going directly to the miner's LN node.

Are there any fees?

The LN routing fees when paying the miner.

Who can be a miner?

Anyone who speaks the protocol and can hash Nostr messages.

I can't get Alby to connect to my LN node (Umbrel, myNode, etc). Can I still try out this demo and pay the miner invoices with my phone LN wallet instead?

No. The payment preimage is needed to unblind the PoW, for this (web-based) demo a WebLN-compatible method is needed, like Alby.

What you can try however is create a temporary wallet on the public LNbits. You can then easily connect Alby to your LNbits account.

Why am I not getting PoW solutions for my Ask?

There are no guarantees you will. It could be no miners are listening. In that case, just try again later.

It could also be no miners are interested in your Ask. In that case, you can make the Ask more attractive for miners by either

  • increasing the sat amount
  • increasing the time window (the "delivered within" field)
  • decreasing the difficulty

How can I be sure the PoW is valid before paying for it?

You can't, but you can increase the chances of this happening by choosing a PoW from a miner with good reputation. The trade data, including the trade resolution, is public. So if a miner has acted honestly in the past, chances are this miner will act honestly again.

How can miners be sure they will get paid for the PoWs they find?

They can't, but they have ways to reduce their risk as well.

First risk they face is that other miners could work on the same PoW and so the Client could choose someone else's PoW solution. They can solve this by only working on PoWs where they're reasonably sure they'll find a solution fast, so they can post their solution before other miners.

Second risk they have is they don't know if the Client will pay. However, the Client's decision to pay or not to pay also builds up a Client Reputation. A miner could choose to ignore Asks from Clients that have a history of not paying.

Is a Client expected to pay ALL PoWs for a specific message?

No. However, the Client is expected to pay for at least one PoW that was posted within the Client's timeframe ("delivered within"). Otherwise, miners could ignore Asks from this Client pubkey in the future.