The Onchain Randomness Problem
“There is no truly random. There is only unpredictable.”
In the world of blockchain, randomness isn’t just hard — it’s inherently compromised by the very properties that make blockchains powerful: transparency and determinism.
Randomness in a blockchain context has to be unpredictable — and more importantly, equally unpredictable to all participants. That means no party should have privileged access to influence or predict the outcome of a random event. This is fundamentally at odds with trustless, permissionless systems.
Random numbers are vital: from cryptographic keys to fair games of chance, and even to video game mechanics like loot boxes. But onchain, randomness becomes a minefield of trust assumptions and attack vectors.
Why Traditional RNG Fails Onchain
Blockchains, by design, are public and deterministic. This means that any randomness derived from onchain data — like block hashes or timestamps — is inherently predictable or manipulable by miners and validators.
Enter Verifiable Random Functions (VRFs). These can generate random values in a cryptographically secure way, but the issue lies in who operates them. Whoever runs the VRF gains advanced knowledge or control over outcomes — violating the principle of equal unpredictability.
Oracles, another workaround, centralize trust even further. Users must trust that the oracle operator hasn’t gamed the result — like drawing winning lottery numbers that conveniently benefit them.
So What’s the Fix?
We’ve developed RANDAO — a permissionless randomness protocol powered by a decentralized network. It’s based on a modified commit-reveal scheme, enhanced with time-unlocked commitments and secured by a network of $RNG miners. These miners provide and solve Timelock puzzles onchain, creating a transparent and trustless pipeline of unpredictable randomness.
The goal? To make onchain randomness truly permissionless, transparent, and tamper-resistant — opening the door for fairer games, stronger cryptography, and more secure dApps.
Interested in shaping the future of onchain randomness?
🧠 Learn how to become an $RNG Miner and start securing decentralized randomness today.
💬 Need help getting started? Join our growing community on Discord for miner support, discussions, and updates:
