<p>Mining solves two problems: double spending and initial distribution of funds.</p>
<h3>Double Spending</h3>
<p>You need some way of addressing double-spending; otherwise people can just copy money over and over. Besides Bitcoin's system, there are two secure, distributed ways of addressing double-spending: Ripple's solution and Proof of Stake with broadcast checkpoints.</p>
<p>Ripple's solution is to have a handful of semi-trusted nodes called validators, which are picked by humans. They come to a consensus, and then they all sign the consensus. A client will refuse to trust the state of the network unless all of its validators have signed off on it.</p>
<p>Proof of Stake is a system where nodes generate blocks like normal, but instead of trying to repeatedly hash them, they use their funds as proof that they're a real node. You also need to have checkpoints regularly broadcast by a central node, because otherwise the system is susceptible to an attack where someone rewrites the entire history at once.</p>
<p>This is the harder of the two problems.</p>
<h3>Initial Distribution of Funds</h3>
<p>You also need some way to issue funds in the first place. There's a bunch of ways that you can issue initial funds: per email address, per IP address, per phone number, et cetera. The problem with this there's generally no way of implementing them in a distributed fashion.</p>
<p>For example, suppose you make a rule saying that a person must prove that they own a Twitter account, and then they get 100 coins. But when other nodes are checking this, half of them get a response saying that the account doesn't exist. (This has happened a couple of times in the past with Twitter.)</p>
<p>A good compromise solution is to have a key held by the developer that has the power to mint X coins every Y hours. Then, have a central server that issues coins according to whatever policy you want.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T18:30:05.023Z
2015-03-24T18:30:05.023Z
2020-06-16T11:10:03.350Z
Nick ODell
<p>Simply put, no. </p>

<p>Mining is required to ensure double spending doesn't occur. Your "wallet" would be analogous to emailing people with serial numbers of dollar bills. </p>

<p>I really can't go into all the problems with this, as it's really not suited for SE IMO. I'd recommend checking out <em>Mastering Bitcoin</em> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin" rel="nofollow">Bitcoin Wikipedia</a>/<a href="http://Bitcoin.it" rel="nofollow">Bitcoin Wiki</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T08:30:31.643Z
There *are* ways to secure a distributed cryptocurrency without mining. They have different security tradeoffs, but saying that it's not possible is wrong.
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T19:34:07.327Z
Ok, if you like, you can elaborate here or in Email to me.  I'd appreciate it.
Luposian
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T11:57:38.947Z
@NickODell you're right. I misread the questions as *"do I need to bother with network consensus, peers and such?"* in creating an altcoin. I'll edit accordingly ASAP
Wizard Of Ozzie
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T06:59:29.267Z
2015-03-23T06:59:29.267Z
Wizard Of Ozzie
<p>In other words, I want a coin with NO premine and NO mining.  Can the wallet, alone, generate the coin(s) and the blockchain, based solely on inter-wallet communication (establishing a wallet "communication" network (kinda like the game Marco Polo in the pool) and chatting between users would generate a certain number/percentage of coins, per user, every day) and direct coin transfers between wallets?</p>

<p>I know very little about blockchain technology, so maybe what I'm describing is already done, to one degree or another.  But one person I spoke to thought what I was describing was crazy, so I figure my idea must be a pretty radical departure from traditional implementation, if even possible.</p>

<p>I'll gladly describe it in further detail, if interested, or it's even feasible.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T15:45:29.133Z
The question is really not clear. If a wallet can generate coins, why isn't that mining? You say you want no mining but you also want people to be able to mine?
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T18:26:30.420Z
Depends what exactly you mean by mining. What about 'minting' with POS?
ethought
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-23T19:32:13.330Z
My lack of knowledge of how wallets work, is why I did not realize what I was thinking what PoS wallets do now and what I want mine to do, are essentially one and the same.  My bad.  Does this also apply to the blockchain, as well, or is my concept different?
Luposian
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T11:58:48.177Z
@Luposian my answer below applies to POW secured cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. The reason it's called Proof of Work is because the "work" (mining) secures and validates (via the public ledger blockchain)
Wizard Of Ozzie
<wallet><blockchain>
Can coin wallets create their own network/blockchain?
Luposian
# Can coin wallets create their own network/blockchain?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-23)

In other words, I want a coin with NO premine and NO mining. Can the wallet, alone, generate the coin(s) and the blockchain, based solely on inter-wallet communication (establishing a wallet "communication" network (kinda like the game Marco Polo in the pool) and chatting between users would generate a certain number/percentage of coins, per user, every day) and direct coin transfers between wallets?

I know very little about blockchain technology, so maybe what I'm describing is already done, to one degree or another. But one person I spoke to thought what I was describing was crazy, so I figure my idea must be a pretty radical departure from traditional implementation, if even possible.

I'll gladly describe it in further detail, if interested, or it's even feasible.

**Tags:** wallet, blockchain

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The question is really not clear. If a wallet can generate coins, why isn't that mining? You say you want no mining but you also want people to be able to mine?  
> **username_2**: Depends what exactly you mean by mining. What about 'minting' with POS?  
> **username_0**: My lack of knowledge of how wallets work, is why I did not realize what I was thinking what PoS wallets do now and what I want mine to do, are essentially one and the same.  My bad.  Does this also apply to the blockchain, as well, or is my concept different?  
> **username_3**: @username_0 my answer below applies to POW secured cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. The reason it's called Proof of Work is because the "work" (mining) secures and validates (via the public ledger blockchain)  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-03-24. Score: 1

Mining solves two problems: double spending and initial distribution of funds.

### Double Spending

You need some way of addressing double-spending; otherwise people can just copy money over and over. Besides Bitcoin's system, there are two secure, distributed ways of addressing double-spending: Ripple's solution and Proof of Stake with broadcast checkpoints.

Ripple's solution is to have a handful of semi-trusted nodes called validators, which are picked by humans. They come to a consensus, and then they all sign the consensus. A client will refuse to trust the state of the network unless all of its validators have signed off on it.

Proof of Stake is a system where nodes generate blocks like normal, but instead of trying to repeatedly hash them, they use their funds as proof that they're a real node. You also need to have checkpoints regularly broadcast by a central node, because otherwise the system is susceptible to an attack where someone rewrites the entire history at once.

This is the harder of the two problems.

### Initial Distribution of Funds

You also need some way to issue funds in the first place. There's a bunch of ways that you can issue initial funds: per email address, per IP address, per phone number, et cetera. The problem with this there's generally no way of implementing them in a distributed fashion.

For example, suppose you make a rule saying that a person must prove that they own a Twitter account, and then they get 100 coins. But when other nodes are checking this, half of them get a response saying that the account doesn't exist. (This has happened a couple of times in the past with Twitter.)

A good compromise solution is to have a key held by the developer that has the power to mint X coins every Y hours. Then, have a central server that issues coins according to whatever policy you want.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-03-23. Score: -1

Simply put, no.

Mining is required to ensure double spending doesn't occur. Your "wallet" would be analogous to emailing people with serial numbers of dollar bills.

I really can't go into all the problems with this, as it's really not suited for SE IMO. I'd recommend checking out *Mastering Bitcoin* or [Bitcoin Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin)/[Bitcoin Wiki](http://Bitcoin.it).

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: There *are* ways to secure a distributed cryptocurrency without mining. They have different security tradeoffs, but saying that it's not possible is wrong.  
> **username_0**: Ok, if you like, you can elaborate here or in Email to me.  I'd appreciate it.  
> **username_3**: @NickODell you're right. I misread the questions as *"do I need to bother with network consensus, peers and such?"* in creating an altcoin. I'll edit accordingly ASAP  

---

