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description: An introduction to Proof-of-Work
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# What is Proof of Work?

[_Proof-of-Work_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work) is a guarantee of invested energy - it serves as a foundation for the _honest signaling_ _for the relevance of data_. Without honest signaling, we are susceptible to misallocating our attention to irrelevant information. Proof-of-Work as a signal guides our energy and attention in the right direction. \


Furthermore the energetic cost necessary to perform work prevents automated adversarial users from clogging the system with cheap spam. Bitcoin relies on Proof-of-Work for its security. OP\_NS uses the same cryptographic[ Proof-of-Work principles as Bitcoin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work#Bitcoin-type_proof_of_work).

**Data that holds proof of invested work (energy) is more worthy of our attention and should be highlighted**. Proof-of-Work allows us to effectively allocate our attention and enables a frictionless creative data economy.

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