Asymmentropy can be used to run a decentralized lottery. An asymmentropic lottery is different than other lottery systems as it is impossible to manipulate. This is because no one knows the numbers entered into the lottery, preventing one from rigging the outcome to select a winning number. This is possible by breaking the lottery into 2 parts. The first part users select a number and submit a hash of this number along with other data to the block chain using asymmetric encryption. Second, their selected numbers are submitted to the chain unencrypted and used to generate a winning number using an open source algorithm and randomness derived from user input. This process will be known as "Asymmentropy" as it uses "Asymmetric encryption" and the "Entropy" of user input to generate random numbers and decentralized the winning number selection process. The process is outlined in detail below.
Conventionally, Decentralized Applications (Dapps) rely on the the future block hash for randomness. This method has already been questioned since the bookkeepers of the blockchain can determine the random result without breaking any rules by filtering and/or reordering transactions when generating new blocks. This problem is especially serious in NEO, since we now only have four bookkeeper nodes. This game provides a mechanism of generating genuine randomness. We make a lottery as the proof of concept of such a system and hopefully it can provide other NEO developers some inspiration. This system will take place in two rounds and ensure the winner is chosen completely at random. The steps are:
To play the lottery, a user needs to have a wallet containing Neo GAS.
User will fill out a form with 3 pieces of data:
- Chosen number of 4 bytes (0 - 4,294,967,296).
- Amount of GAS required for the total number of lottery entry tickets they wish to purchase
- Public key.
Once done, the user clicks “submit” and then needs to approve the transaction for the amount used to purchase the lottery ticket in their neo wallet client. The GAS will then be sent to a decentralized address through a smart contract.
(ex. 1 GAS = 1 entry)
Once a transaction is approved the user’s computer will generate a random number through our client. This number will be generated by hashing (Chosen number, public key, system time) to produce a random number within the same range as the user’s picked number.
The random number generated is referred to as the “Hidden Number”. The system will now hash the hidden number with an open-source algorithm and produce a function referred to as the “Hash of Hidden Number”
The following 5 pieces of information are submitted onto the blockchain.
- Game ID
- Player’s public key (PK)
- Player’s picked number
- Amount of GAS paid = tickets purchased.
- Hash of Hidden Number
Once the first round is completed, the system closes submission any new entries to the chain. No more lottery tickets will be sold.
All hidden numbers are posted to the chain from the user’s wallet with the following data:
- Game ID
- Hidden number
This ensures the user remains anonymous. Then the average of all the hidden numbers is used to determine the winner of the lottery by matching the hidden number average with the winning picked number by a user.
To match the number with the user, the winning number is hashed through the open algorithm, and if a user’s Hash of Hidden Number matched, the proceeds of the lottery are sent to their public key submitted with their original entry.
Check(gameID, playerAddress, Matching Picked Number)
The goal of this lottery is to run a completely decentralized system which creates randomness based on user submission. By leveraging the anonymity of the lottery numbers submitted, a system can perform a calculation on these numbers and determine the winner without any bias.
Thank you to Neunity @ https://github.com/norchain/Neunity for providing the test environment for running the lottery smart contract. We could not have completed our development of the smart contract without your framework. Also thanks dprat0821 for overnights discussion to make Asymmentropy happen. Hereby authorize him to translate the term "Asymmentropy" to Chinese language "非对称熵".