An experiment in selecting a fair prize draw winner
In the first NFT giveaway, the winning end time could not be manipulated during the competition because it was predetermined. However there is no way to prove that the organisers did not somehow influence the result of the draw by, for example, leaking the details to a favourite candidate (this of course we would never contemplate, but this experiment is also designed to consider any generic case where the organisers might not be a trusted party)
So the second draw will experiment with another method. The “Candle auction” end time will be unknown to both organisers and participants during the competition, and instead will be determined by a consensus event on Hedera that cannot be manipulated, and is only verifiable after the competition is complete.
We welcome your input and encourage you to verify the results of this draw for yourself, as soon as the competition period is complete.
Here is the algorithm to determine the winner of the second draw:
- determine the first Hedera transaction to reach consensus after the end of the Promotion Period (this will likely be within a fraction of a second as there is a huge volume running through Hedera)
- take the first 6 characters of the transaction hash, which is in hex eg
ef829e - convert this hex value to a decimal number eg 15696542
https://www.binaryhexconverter.com/hex-to-decimal-converter - determine the Promotion Period in seconds
(eg a week = 60 seconds x 60 minutes x 24 hours x 7 days = 604800 seconds) - calculate the modulo of #3 vs #4, that is, repeatedly subtract #4 from #3 until the result is less than #4 eg 576542
- add #5 to the start time of the competition to obtain the Candle Auction end time
- determine the token transfer from operator 0.0.55492 which was sent closest to, but not after the time from #6. The account receiving this token is the winner of the competition! (subject to terms and conditions)
Note, this method may mean that the probability of winning may vary over the course of the week, but we leave this for better brains to work out — maybe it can give you an edge?
Do you have an idea for another selection method? Please let us know! Share your ideas #candleauction @gomintme www.twitter.com/gomintme
or drop us a line via www.gomint.co