GIST Develops Algorithm Achieving Both Decentralization and Energy Efficiency

Professor Lee Heungno's Team Develops
Next-Generation Blockchain Consensus
Algorithm ECCVCC to Enhance
Decentralization and Energy Efficiency

(From left) Choi Haewoong, student of Electrical Electronics Computer Engineering, Professor Lee Heungno, Kim Seungmin, student.

The Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced on July 4 that the research team led by Professor Lee Heungno from the School of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering has developed a new consensus algorithm, ECCVCC (Error Correction Code Verifiable Computation Consensus), which enhances the decentralization of blockchain while improving energy efficiency.

This research is drawing attention as a technology that maintains the advantages of existing proof-of-work (PoW) based blockchains while simultaneously addressing both energy waste and the centralization of mining. By overcoming the limitations of both PoW and proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanisms, it is expected to emerge as a foundational technology for the next-generation blockchain ecosystem as a new alternative.

Blockchain technology is a distributed system that maintains data reliability and integrity among participants without a central administrator, with the core being the "consensus algorithm." The most widely known PoW method has a structure where participants competitively solve complex cryptographic puzzles. As a "non-interactive" system where consensus is achieved without direct communication, it is simple and stable, and allows a large number of nodes to participate, resulting in a high degree of decentralization.

Nodes refer to individual computers or servers that make up the blockchain network. They store transaction information, exchange data with other nodes, and play a key role in maintaining the network by generating, verifying, and propagating blocks.

However, the emergence of ASIC equipment has exposed the limitations of this structure. As a small number of miners with high-performance devices specialized for specific computations monopolize block generation rights, PoW has become vulnerable to centralization, and the issue of massive power consumption has also been highlighted. In fact, there are analyses suggesting that the annual electricity consumption of the Bitcoin network is close to that of the entire country of Poland.

For these reasons, new blockchains such as "Ethereum" have switched to or adopted the PoS method. However, PoS also faces limitations in decentralization and scalability, as block generation rights are concentrated among a few holders of large amounts of cryptocurrency, and its "interactive consensus" structure relies on complex communication. In particular, PoS-based networks are increasingly affected by the MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) issue, where a small number of validators manipulate transaction order for unfair profit.

Overview of the Proposed ECCVCC Algorithm.

The ECCVCC developed by the research team is a next-generation consensus algorithm designed to solve these problems. This method is a new form of PoW that incorporates error correction code (ECC) technology, used in wireless communications, into the blockchain puzzle structure. It generates a new puzzle each time, which is difficult to pre-optimize even with ASICs. For each block, a highly random "parity check matrix" is generated using the previous block's hash value, and the puzzle is constructed based on this. The structure and solution conditions of this puzzle change every time, making it impossible to apply ASIC devices uniformly. At the same time, by maintaining the non-interactive nature of PoW, the network structure remains simple while ensuring decentralization and scalability.

Through simulations, the research team demonstrated that ECCVCC achieves a higher level of decentralization than the existing Bitcoin method and exhibits approximately 19 times greater resistance to ASICs than several recently proposed ASIC-resistant PoW methods. In addition, by combining ECCVCC with a "verifiable coin toss function," they designed the system to automatically adjust the number of nodes participating in each block's puzzle, thereby reducing unnecessary energy consumption and maximizing efficiency.

This algorithm has been practically applied to the mainnet "WorldLand My AI Network," developed and operated by Rivervance Co., Ltd., a startup founded in Professor Lee Heungno's laboratory, thereby proving the practicality and stability of the technology.

Professor Lee Heungno stated, "This research presents a new solution that preserves the simplicity and decentralization of PoW while addressing the problems of ASIC monopoly and energy waste," and added, "A blockchain based on ECCVCC will serve as the foundational infrastructure for various future technology services, such as 'blockchain-based user-owned AI agent services (My AI Network).' "

This research was supervised by Professor Lee Heungno of GIST's School of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering, and conducted by doctoral students Choi Haewoong and Kim Seungmin, with support from the University ICT Research Center (ITRC) program of the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP). The research results were published online in the international journal 'IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security' on June 24, 2025.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.