A long-running assumption in permissionless consensus just got weaker: fresh public randomness may not need to arrive on a recurring clock. A Crypto 2026 paper replaces that beacon with distributed samplers plus a common random string. The catch: it remains theoretical, with key deployment costs and thresholds still undisclosed. https://cryptoslate.com/permissionless-consensus-paper-removes-recurring-randomness-beacon/(CryptoSlate)