What is Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW)?

Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) is a security mechanism that leverages the hashing power of an established Proof of Work blockchain — typically Bitcoin — to protect a smaller, independent blockchain. Rather than competing directly in mining, dPoW periodically takes a snapshot (hash) of the secondary chain's state and notarizes it onto the Bitcoin blockchain. This creates an immutable record on the most secure network in existence, making it virtually impossible to alter the smaller chain's history without also compromising Bitcoin.

The key advantage of dPoW is that it provides Bitcoin-level security to blockchains that could not achieve such protection on their own, all without the enormous energy expenditure of running a full PoW mining operation. It is cost-effective and allows the protected chain to use any primary consensus mechanism of its choice while still benefiting from Bitcoin's security guarantees. The trade-off is the dependency on notary nodes that perform the cross-chain anchoring, and a slight delay before transactions receive the full security of the Bitcoin notarization.

Delayed Proof of Work was developed by the Komodo project and remains its signature security feature. Komodo uses a network of 64 elected notary nodes that regularly write block hashes to the Bitcoin blockchain. This approach has also been extended through Komodo's ecosystem to offer dPoW protection to third-party blockchains and projects that build on its platform, making it a practical solution for securing emerging networks without reinventing the wheel.