New Research Proposes Removing Randomness Clocks in Blockchains

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have solved a theoretical gap in permissionless consensus. Their upcoming paper, accepted for the Crypto 2026 conference, shows how to replace the public beacons that supply fresh random values at regular intervals to network participants. This removes a hidden dependency on a ticking randomness clock while keeping networks secure.

Previous setups combined proofs of work with fine grained complexity assumptions, but they still required a recurring service to deliver fresh public random values. The new study uses distributed samplers and a common random string instead. This lets multiple network executions stay secure at the same time without needing a live randomness feed, though it still relies on established cryptographic assumptions like learning with errors.

Right now, this work is purely theoretical. The public documents do not provide exact benchmarks, performance costs, or ready to use code for live networks. Traders and developers should watch for the full manuscript release in August 2026 to see if these cryptographic improvements can eventually translate into real world scaling benefits.