Participatory Randomness Beacon

Unpredictable and unbiased randomness is crucial for many applications concerning public interest. However, most of the methods for randomness generation used these days provide no proof that their random values are indeed unpredictable and unbiased. One way to improve public confidence is via participatory randomness generation, which allows people to directly contribute entropy to the output and be assured of the result’s unpredictability and bias resistance. To ensure the fairness of participation, such protocols should be secure, usable, and scalable so that even millions of people, without powerful machines, could contribute easily.

HeadStart

HeadStart is a participatory randomness generation protocol designed for public participation at scale. The primary concept behind HeadStart is to allow users to contribute their own entropy to ensure a sufficiently random outcome. To prevent anyone from anticipating the final random number in advance, HeadStart employs cryptographic tools such as Verifiable Delay Functions (VDF) to ensure that the result cannot be computed within a short timeframe. Additionally, HeadStart utilizes Merkle Trees to guarantee that users’ contributions are accurately incorporated into the final result. The design ensure that no one, including the server provider, can manipulate the generated randomness for their benefit. Furthermore, contributors can independently verify the outcome of HeadStart using their personal devices, without relying on the assumption that other contributors are trustworthy.


Publications