Verifiable delay functions and cryptographic foundations of blockchain

Proof of work is essential to consensus in Bitcoin, yet it is a source of inequality among miners as it stratifies them based on the available mining hardware. Aiming at leveling the field, cryptographers recently designed new primitives such as proof of sequential work or verifiable delay functions, which one could leverage towards more energy-efficient consensus protocols or completely novel applications such as distributed randomness beacons. In my talk, I will survey the recent progress and highlight some exciting future directions.