# kaal:claim:3782203-029

**Claim.** The authors hold that the Bitcoin proof of work algorithm is ultimately flawed, that every consensus algorithm is flawed, and that it is not possible to create an algorithm that is not flawed.

**Type.** predictive  **Support.** asserted

**Holds when.**

- real world networks with changing markets and anonymous actors

**Source quote.**

> However, we suspect that the Bitcoin PoW algorithm is ultimately flawed. In fact, we believe that every consensus algorithm is flawed. Further we are confident it is not possible to create an algorithm that is not flawed.

**From.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, *A Technical Perspective on Decentralization* (2021), Application to PoS consensus algorithms, page 19

**Cite as.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, A Technical Perspective on Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782203

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `ab8a22d0dbb026a09212a4c85963f3c05787cf80775e8613ae3724e3883e7a56` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Calcaterra%20and%20Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20A%20Technical%20Perspective%20on%20Decentralization.pdf

**Failure mode.** no-flawless-consensus  (family: consensus-and-protocol-attack)

**Topics.** consensus-and-security, tokenomics

**Keywords.** proof-of-work, bitcoin, consensus-algorithms, impossibility-results

**Related claims.**

- extends: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782198-031

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of the claim. Its sha256 is the content hash used for attestation.