Virtual Proof of Work: An Innovative Asset Distribution Protocol

Since the rise of ERC-20 assets in 2017, Web3 has entered an era of low barriers to asset issuance. Various projects issue tokens or NFTs through methods such as ICOs and IDOs, but there are often issues like strong centralized control or lack of transparency, leading to frequent RugPulls. People have long hoped for a fairer and more reliable asset issuance protocol to address many problems during the early distribution of new projects.

Cellula offers a new perspective by implementing an asset distribution layer that simulates PoW, using virtual proof of work (vPOW) to "mine" the asset distribution process, aiming to achieve a fairer asset distribution paradigm similar to Bitcoin. This solution can serve as a universal asset distribution platform, providing a fairer early distribution scheme for Web3 projects.

The core of Cellula is the introduction of the famous "Conway's Game of Life" algorithm, which allocates computing power to the on-chain virtual digital entity ( known as "BitLife" ). Participants cultivate cell clusters in their own "petri dishes"; over time, the more surviving cells in a participant's petri dish, the higher the mining computing power they receive, increasing the likelihood of earning rewards.

This design essentially replaces the traditional PoW hash calculation with another computational method whose results are difficult to predict. The key lies in how to obtain a Petri dish with more living cells (BitLife), while deducing the state changes of BitLife requires the consumption of computational resources. This is referred to as vPOW(Virtual POW).

Cellula's BitLife acts as the entity of the Petri dish (, which is actually an NFT ), containing 81 squares, each holding a cell that may be alive or dead. Players need to choose the initial pattern of the Petri dish, with a total of 2^81 different initial patterns, which is an astronomical number.

The cell status of BitLife changes with the increase of block height. Cellula allocates computing power based on the status of BitLife at different block heights. Given a block height, the more living cells contained in BitLife, the higher the computing power it possesses, which is equivalent to creating a virtual mining machine.

The goal of participants is to construct or purchase from others the BitLife that is most likely to receive mining rewards. This model is equivalent to allowing ordinary users to develop their own "mining machines," which they can then sell to others or purchase others' "mining machines" to mine.

The system will distribute a certain amount of mining rewards every 5 minutes, allocated based on each BitLife's share of computing power in the network. Players need to perform a "charging" operation on the BitLife to start mining, with a single charge valid for 1 day, 3 days, and 7 days.

In order to maintain the stability of the game ecosystem, Cellula has limited the minting volume of BitLife. In the future, roles similar to those of mining machine manufacturers will be introduced, responsible for minting and selling more advanced BitLife based on a licensing system.

In addition, Cellula has also introduced mechanisms such as the Analysoor random number algorithm and the VRGDAs exponential pricing curve to increase the randomness of the game and prevent scientists from minting endlessly.

In general, Cellula simulates the operation of the Bitcoin mining machine market through vPOW, creating a fairer and more interesting asset distribution mechanism. It lowers the threshold for "mining machine R&D," allowing more people to participate, forming a multi-party game between project parties, scientists, and ordinary players, with no single party able to fully control the market. This design provides new ideas and possibilities for the early distribution of Web3 assets.