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Is is possible to access the epoch nonce from your Plutus script, to use as a trusted source or randomness ?

The only suggestion for on-chain randomness I have found, is using an RNG oracle. But the Chain already produces a random number during each epoch!

If I would like to create a Application that uses randomness infrequently, the epoch nonce is a much better candidate, since it has a much stronger source of trust than any oracle, at least the foreseeable future.

Is this possible with the current Plutus V2 implementation ?

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I do not think there is a way to get the epoch nonce but I also think that in most cases, the epoch nonce is a good source of " trusted source of randomness".

Maybe explain a bit more thoroughly of what you are trying to achieve.

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  • For example If I would like to make a grand Strategy game where the map gets generated and players get assigned spots based on a Random Number(seed), this would not have to happen often, just every time a game starts and the games can take months so no real reason to need an RNG oracle. Or for a lottery that happens every 5 days. Epoch nonce is definitely the most trusted randomness to use for a fair draw of the winner.
    – Leo
    Oct 31, 2022 at 17:28
  • Using the random-ness for a game is probably fine, but I would definitely not consider it a good source of random-ness for cryptography.
    – Erik de Castro Lopo
    Oct 31, 2022 at 19:13
  • Why not for Cryptography ? Not for seed generation or anything like that(since it is obviously not private), but for a VRF scheme like Ourobors uses for the leadership schedule should be fine.
    – Leo
    Oct 31, 2022 at 21:31
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    I am by no means a cryptography expert, but my understanding is that cryptography requires very high quality randomness, specifically, well beyond a single 64 bit nonce on a blockchain.
    – Erik de Castro Lopo
    Nov 1, 2022 at 21:30

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