Borge Chavez, Maria FernandaKokoris Kogias, EleftheriosJovanovic, Philipp SvetolikGasser, LinusGailly, NicolasFord, Bryan Alexander2023-04-032023-04-032023-04-032017-07-0310.1109/EuroSPW.2017.46https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/196683Permissionless blockchain-based cryptocurrencies commonly use proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS) to ensure their security, e.g. to prevent double spending attacks. However, both approaches have disadvantages: PoW leads to massive amounts of wasted electricity and re-centralization, whereas major stakeholders in PoS might be able to create a monopoly. In this work, we propose proof-of-personhood (PoP), a mechanism that binds physical entities to virtual identities in a way that enables accountability while preserving anonymity. Afterwards we introduce PoPCoin, a new cryptocurrency, whose consensus mechanism leverages PoP to eliminate the disadvantages of PoW and PoS while ensuring security. PoPCoin leads to a continuously fair and democratic wealth creation process which paves the way for an experimental basic income infrastructure.personhoodidentityblockchainaccountabilityanonymitytext::conference output::conference proceedings::conference paper