{"authors":[{"id":"1fa0115d-d7ae-4055-80e7-bbbf274cda8b","name":"Oliveira¹ Rafael","role":[]},{"id":"305465a9-c98f-41bf-bed0-0f16768261cb","name":"Bednarski² James","role":[]}],"components":[{"id":"root","name":"root","payload":{"cid":"bafybeicohza5jg6yxokkhq5fbqbe4jk3nswzcdaneui3rdpxsbton2nbva","path":"root"},"type":{".pdf":"pdf"}},{"id":"2a61366a-ba1f-4c8f-8cbc-e36e93837ceb","name":"TimeChain_AcademicWhitepaper.pdf","type":"pdf","payload":{"cid":"bafkreihlervq5nfhylxhcfxwa4z7f7ekgn3hfxwkfhdcqgh7ih5qglbwsm","path":"root/TimeChain_AcademicWhitepaper.pdf","title":"Manuscript"},"starred":true,"subtype":"manuscript"}],"defaultLicense":"CC BY","researchFields":[],"title":"TimeChain: A Protocol for Decentralized Time Consensus A Novel Blockchain Architecture Based on Verifiable Delay Functions for Establishing Trustless Temporal Ordering","version":"desci-nodes-0.2.0","description":"Background: Contemporary blockchain systems rely on external time sources for transaction ordering and consensus, introducing centralization risks and temporal inconsistencies across distributed networks. Objective: We present TimeChain, a novel blockchain protocol that internalizes time as the fundamental consensus primitive through Proof-of-Time (PoT) mechanisms based on Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs). Methods: TimeChain utilizes VDFs that require sequential computation steps to evaluate while producing outputs that can be validated effectively and publicly. The protocol introduces Chronons as time-based blocks where block production directly represents canonical temporal progression. Results: The proposed architecture eliminates dependency on external time oracles while maintaining cryptographic security guarantees. VDF applications enable computational timestamping, public random beacons, and resource-efficient blockchain operations. Conclusions: TimeChain establishes a new paradigm for distributed consensus where time becomes the core resource, enabling autonomous temporal coordination without trusted authorities.","references":[{"id":"10.1007/s00145-020-09364-x","type":"doi","url":"10.1007/s00145-020-09364-x","authors":[{"name":"D Boneh"},{"name":"J Bonneau"},{"name":"B Bünz"},{"name":"B Fisch"}],"title":"Verifiable delay functions","journal":"Annual international cryptology conference","volume":"","pages":"","issue":"","year":"2018"},{"id":"10.1007/978-3-319-96884-1_25","type":"doi","url":"10.1007/978-3-319-96884-1_25","authors":[{"name":"K Pietrzak"}],"title":"Simple verifiable delay functions","journal":"10th innovations in theoretical computer science conference","volume":"","pages":"","issue":"","year":"2019"},{"id":"10.1007/s12083-024-01673-3","type":"doi","url":"10.1007/s12083-024-01673-3","authors":[{"name":"B Wesolowski"}],"title":"Efficient verifiable delay functions","journal":"Annual international conference on the theory and applications of cryptographic techniques","volume":"","pages":"","issue":"","year":"2019"},{"id":"10.2139/ssrn.4088254","type":"doi","url":"10.2139/ssrn.4088254","authors":[],"title":"Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests","journal":"","volume":"","pages":"","issue":"","year":""}]}