Introduction To Consensus Mechanisms In Blockchain

• Amber Smith
• November 21, 2022

The most popular distributed ledger technology is blockchain. They can be utilised in any business with less danger of fraud or theft than conventional centralised databases because they are decentralised and trustless. Before blockchain technology gets widely used, there are still a few problems that need to be fixed. These include, among other things, performance constraints, compatibility problems, and scalability problems.

We shall discuss some of the most well-liked consensus algorithms utilised by various blockchains nowadays in this article: Delegated Proof of Stake, or DPOS, is a form of Proof of Work (PoW), or Proof of Stake (PoS) (DPoS). Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance, PBFT, and Proof of Importance will also be covered (POI).

What Is A Consensus Mechanism?

A consensus mechanism is a method through which a group of individuals can reach a consensus. Blockchain is utilised as an alternative method for network nodes to make decisions without voting in the case of blockchain.

Voting is the most popular mechanism for achieving consensus, and each participant has their own ideas about what should happen and how it should happen. However, compared to other options like proof-of-work, this can take more time and resources.

Another option is quorum mining, where action can be taken with the consent of only 51% of miners. However, this also leads to centralization because there aren’t enough nodes that aren’t connected to one another or have been taken over by attackers who may want to have control over the entire mining power itself!

Proof Of Work (PoW)

PoW is a consensus process where miners protect the network. Receiving new coins in return for their labour encourages miners to protect the network. A block requires a lot of work to mine, but the difficulty can be changed so that new blocks are discovered roughly every 10 minutes.

Proof Of Stake (PoS)

A consensus process called Proof of Investment pays users for their stake in the network. In other words, Dash, NEO, and Ethereum all use it.

Proof of Stake vs. Proof of Work (PoW) (PoS)

Proof-of-work systems require extensive computer networks to carry out calculations that validate blockchain transactions. Large amounts of electricity are needed for this operation, which uses a lot more energy than proof-of-stake systems do. PoW, however, also has some drawbacks: It can be costly to maintain because each transaction requires you to use computer resources that may not be adequate for most people’s needs; occasionally, internal security flaws may cause issues; and finally, it takes too long to load.

Delegated Proof Of Stake Or DPOS (DPoS)

EOS uses the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. Stakeholders vote for block producers rather than miners in this Proof-of-Stake variant.

Block producers are elected by the community into the office and are in charge of maintaining the blockchain’s functionality, including voting on developer requests. Votes in DPoS are weighted according to the stake each stakeholder has in the network; the more stake you have, the more weight your vote will have. This prevents Sybil attacks or other types of manipulation by bad actors who might try to game the system in order to gain control over others’ systems.

Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance or PBFT

The consensus mechanism known as Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) uses probabilistic messages to identify the network members who concur on a common state. Shakir Mohamed and Jorge Luis Alves first proposed the PBFT in 2008, and it has since grown to be one of the most popular consensus algorithms for blockchain protocols.

Each node in PBFT communicates with its neighbours by sending messages until they agree on the data to be stored in the system. When two nodes dispute, they will exchange messages until they both agree that their points of view are accurate. Until all nodes have come to an understanding or until there is no longer any contention among them regarding any particular issue, this process can go on indefinitely.

Proof Of Importance (POI)

A consensus technique called Proof of Importance (POI) leverages the quantity of a cryptocurrency you own to gauge your influence on the network. POI may be used with both PoS and PoW systems because it mixes Proof of Stake and Proof of Work.

Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum and its CEO, developed POI. He published a paper on it in 2017 in which he described how it might function as an alternative to proof-of-work systems like Bitcoin or Ethereum itself. It is also referred to as “Proof of Devotion” because it rewards users who devote more time to a project than others by giving them more voting power over their tokens than users who haven’t invested much time in increasing the value of their holdings.

All these Blockchain methods can be adopted by any person if one has a little bit of understanding of Cryptocurrencies. Most of the crypto exchanges are banned in the USA and you can approach them via VPN because a fast VPN server will do the task quickly in your restricted location. 

As a result, there are numerous different types of blockchain networks, each with unique properties and advantages for particular applications: permissioned and public; private; hybrid; permission/private hybrids; etc.

Blockchain Consensus Are Used In The Decision-Making Process

The novel way that blockchain functions enable the application of several consensus methods in the decision-making process. The global network of nodes (computers) where transactions are validated and recorded is made up of numerous computers. This implies that no single computer can have an impact on the operation or data storage of any other computer.

Conclusion

When discussing consensus mechanisms, it’s common to overlook the fact that they can be employed for both beneficial and detrimental purposes. For instance, because DPoS requires more stakeholders than other systems like PoW or PBFT, it is more resistant to malicious actors. However, these systems are also less secure than PBFT, which, depending on the type of network you’re using, only needs one user to launch an attack against another user as opposed to thousands or millions.