Merged Mining

Chrono Network employs merged mining, a technique involving the simultaneous mining of a combined header generated from multiple blockchains. The concept was first introduced by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in December 2010. Chrono Network has expanded on this idea by implementing merged mining in a network of blockchains that share the same protocol. This implementation allows all Chrono Network chains to collectively share security through the commitment of the entire network's hash power. Additionally, merged mining results in the automatic creation of hash-linked references between Chrono Network chains, facilitating trustless cross-chain state transitions. By utilizing merged mining to establish a multithreaded execution environment, Chrono Network achieves Proof-of-Work energy efficiency surpassing that of Bitcoin What is Merged Mining?

Merged mining occurs when a miner can validate each nonce they hash against the difficulty threshold of multiple distinct blockchains. In practical terms, this enables a single computer to mine and secure multiple blockchains simultaneously without an increase in hardware requirements or energy consumption.

Merged mining is only feasible between blockchains that utilize the same hashing algorithm. All Chrono Network blockchains utilize the ProgPoW hashing algorithm. Third-party chains employing ProgPoW have the option to engage in merged mining with Chrono Network. Each Chrono Network miner conducts merged mining for three blockchains simultaneously—one from each tier of Chrono Network's hierarchy. Coincident Blocks:

Coincident blocks refer to blocks that hold validity in multiple Chrono Network blockchains. These blocks establish atomic, hash-linked references between chains. When miners engage in merged mining across multiple blockchains, they occasionally discover nonces meeting the difficulty requirements of multiple chains, resulting in coincident blocks. This occurrence is a natural outcome of merged mining and requires no additional mechanism beyond Proof-of-Work mining.

Maintaining interconnectivity among all Chrono Network blockchains, coincident blocks periodically anchor subordinate chains to the efforts of the prime chain. This interlinkage enables the transmission of data between chains in a trustless environment through the creation of hash-linked references.

Energy Efficiency:

Merged mining empowers Chrono Network to leverage miners with significantly greater efficiency, thereby reducing the per-transaction energy cost of Proof-of-Work. This efficiency gain is achieved without an increase in energy expenditure, while concurrently providing a substantial boost in available block space. Chrono Network stands out for its efficient allocation of energy resources, maximizing block space and on-chain security per kilowatt-hour (kW/h).