TrueBit (TRU)

What is TrueBit

TrueBit’s primary purpose is to realize correct, trustless computations despite miners’ limited computation bandwidth. Intuitively, we wish to reward participants who correctly perform computational tasks, but who decides whether these tasks were done correctly? In absence of a dispute, the party who performs a computational task on behalf of a TrueBit contract simply receives a reward. On the other hand, if a dispute does occur, we must rely on the only trusted resource, the limited network of miners, to resolve it. Dispute resolution occurs as a “verification game” subroutine in TrueBit.

Who initiates a dispute in the case of an incorrect computation, and how can we ensure that such a dispute will actually occur? One option is to assume that each party with some stake in the contract brings their own trusted (although not necessarily mutually trusted) verifier, and flags for a challenge if needed. This trusted verifier approach suffices for some applications, but in general parties may need to rely on the results of a previously executed TrueBit contract ex post facto even if they themselves did not exist at the time of its creation. Like Ethereum smart contracts, TrueBit contracts must have universal validity.

Since there exist no trusted parties on Ethereum’s network, by symmetry we must allow any party to be hired to solve any computational task, and similarly anyone should be able to challenge a Solver’s outcome of a computational task. The latter requirement ensures that TrueBit operates by unanimous consensus.