Btfy
a blockchain that uses weather observations
Details
- External ID
- 49141764
- Source
- HN
- Company
- —
- Product
- Btfy
- Website domain
- github.com
- Launched
- Aug. 2, 2026
- Cohort
- —
- Upvotes
- 10
- Upvotes percentile
- 0.5772849462365591
- Tags
- —
- Fetched at
- Sept. 10, 2026, 5:32 a.m.
- Updated at
- Sept. 10, 2026, 5:32 a.m.
Description
Hi HN,I built Btfy, an experimental blockchain that uses weather observations as a source of unpredictability for consensusThe motivation is simple. Proof of Work generates uncertainty by performing computations. I wanted to explore whether we could obtain some of that uncertainty from the real world instead.Btfy combines weather observation data with a Verifiable Delay Function (VDF):Weather Observation Data -> VDF -> Block -> Hash ChainIn the current implementation, observation data is collected from multiple locations, a VDF is computed, and the result is used to generate a block. Furthermore, because each block depends on the hash of the previous block, making it difficult to replay previously observed weather data to construct an alternative history.This is strictly an experimental project and not a production-ready consensus protocol. I am particularly interested in the security assumptions here: specifically, how much uncertainty weather observation data can actually provide, how an attacker might manipulate or predict the beacon, and whether the VDF plays a meaningful role in this design.Btfy is still a very early-stage project and requires various forms of validation. However, I hope this sparks exploration into the possibilities of new blockchains based on real-world information. I would love to hear your feedback.Thanks!
Enrichment
- Theme
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Function
- Dev tools
- Audience
- Developer
- AI stance
- Not AI
- Project type
- Hobby / open-source project
- Normalized one-liner
- blockchain using weather observations
- Manually corrected
- False
Could you build this?
Partial The blockchain structure and peer-to-peer networking are straightforward to prototype, but integrating external real-world weather data into consensus requires solving the decentralized oracle/verifiability problem without trusting a single source.
What it would actually take: The system needs a custom consensus engine (likely written in Go or Rust) that ingests cryptographic proofs of weather observations from decentralized sensor networks or trusted stations (e.g., using TLSNotary or threshold signatures). The hardest part is making non-deterministic real-world sensor data verifiable across all validating nodes without centralization or Sybil attack vectors. Requires distributed consensus and cryptographic oracle design expertise.
Discussion
7 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: Proof of Stake, Bitcoin
Concerns raised: Unpredictability baseline not strictly defined, How much unpredictability can meteorological data actually provide, Security assumptions of the design unclear, Parameters (VDF difficulty, temperature tolerance) lack appropriate values
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one — 44 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #17 of 45 (itself plus its competitors, highest first — normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 274 days after the earliest competitor.
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- Anchor any file to Bitcoin to prove it existed at a specific time · hn · 2026-03-19 · 8 upvotes · similarity 0.42
- LPD · Protect your digital property · ph · 2026-09-28 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.42
- Whaleflow · ph · 2026-09-07 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.41
- Bitcoin and Quantum Computing · hn · 2026-04-11 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.40
- Hormuz Signal · hn · 2026-09-24 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.39
- Bithoven · hn · 2025-12-15 · 27 upvotes · similarity 0.38
Other launches for this product
- No other launches for this product.
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