Bitcoin, as a decentralized digital system, derives its resilience and adaptivity from a sophisticated PH three-layer structure. Each layer carries a unique role and a critical interactive proof mechanism, together forming an emergent adaptive capability akin to “self-awareness.”
Detailed content of the PH three-layer structure: Here
First, the foundational layer of the PH structure is the decentralized account base: UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output). At this layer, the central actors are the users. They declare ownership of digital assets by managing and spending UTXOs. The core mechanism here is an interactive proof based on asymmetric cryptography: users digitally sign transactions using the private key corresponding to the UTXO. This signature serves as the interactive proof provided to the network, demonstrating to other nodes that the user is authorized to spend the UTXO. The verification relies on the assumption that P ≠ NP—meaning it is computationally infeasible to forge a signature by deriving the private key—thereby ensuring the unforgeability of transactions and the security of ownership.
Second, the middle layer of the PH structure features the “workers”—the Miners. Miners act as the builders of the network. They collect transactions submitted by users, package them into blocks, and compete for the right to record them by solving complex Proof-of-Work (PoW) puzzles. PoW forms an asymmetrical interactive verification mechanism: miners must expend significant computational resources to brute-force a nonce that produces a block hash meeting a specific difficulty target. Meanwhile, other nodes can easily verify the work by performing a simple hash computation. This property of “hard to prove, easy to verify” ensures the fairness of block production and the security of the network.
Finally, the top layer of the PH structure is the invisible boss: the “Longest Chain.” This is not a tangible entity, but the result of probabilistic consensus across all nodes in the network following the principle of the longest chain—the one with the greatest cumulative work. At this level, the actor is the collective consciousness of the network. Every full node independently verifies and maintains the longest chain it recognizes. The proof mechanism here is a form of probabilistic interactive verification. It manifests as nodes continuously synchronizing block data and selecting the chain with the most work based on known information. While the next block’s placement is unpredictable, this continuous, probabilistic interaction among nodes leads the entire network to converge on a single chain that is both longest and most secure.
These three layers of the PH structure are tightly connected and operate in coordination. Transactions submitted by users with UTXO-based interactive proofs are packaged by miners and broadcast in the form of PoW; miners, through their PoW-based interactive efforts, add new blocks to what they perceive as the “longest chain.” This “longest chain” thus becomes the emergent “self-awareness” of Bitcoin. Its history is fixed and immutable, yet its future is filled with uncertainty—it cannot foresee how it will extend in the next moment. It is precisely this interweaving of non-determinism and self-organization, constructed from the three-layer interactive proof mechanisms, that gives Bitcoin its powerful emergent adaptivity: the ability to autonomously respond to hash power fluctuations, network attacks, and market changes without any central authority—demonstrating unique resilience and vitality.
