Abstract: The systems and methods described herein can provide a protocol escalation path in response to a client system's request or in response to a triggering event. For example, the computing system can provide an indication to a client system that the client system can upgrade from a regular connection channel to an upgraded connection channel if the client system can solve a certain proof-of-work. The computing system may also receive a request from the client system to access an upgraded connection channel. The upgraded connection channel may provide more bandwidth, stability, higher priority, etc., alone or in combination, comparing to the regular connection channel.