A consensus mechanism where validators are selected to produce blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they have staked (locked) as collateral. PoS is energy-efficient compared to Proof of Work. Misbehaving validators risk losing their stake (slashing). Solana, Ethereum (post-Merge), Cosmos, and Cardano use PoS variants.
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A consensus mechanism where validators are selected to produce blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they have staked (locked) as collateral. PoS is energy-efficient compared to Proof of Work. Misbehaving validators risk losing their stake (slashing). Solana, Ethereum (post-Merge), Cosmos, and Cardano use PoS variants.
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Proof of Stake (PoS) (proof-of-stake) Category: Blockchain General Definition: A consensus mechanism where validators are selected to produce blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they have staked (locked) as collateral. PoS is energy-efficient compared to Proof of Work. Misbehaving validators risk losing their stake (slashing). Solana, Ethereum (post-Merge), Cosmos, and Cardano use PoS variants. Aliases: PoS Related: Consensus Mechanism, Staking, Slashing
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The protocol by which nodes in a distributed network agree on the current state of the ledger. Common mechanisms include Proof of Work (Bitcoin), Proof of Stake (Ethereum, Solana), and BFT variants. Consensus ensures all honest nodes converge on the same transaction history despite potential network delays or malicious actors.
The process of locking cryptocurrency as collateral to participate in network consensus (validation) or to earn rewards. Stakers either run validators directly or delegate to existing validators. Staking provides economic security—validators risk losing staked tokens (slashing) for misbehavior. Annual staking yields typically range from 3-15% depending on the network.
A penalty mechanism in Proof of Stake systems where validators lose a portion of their staked tokens for provable misbehavior (double-signing, extended downtime, invalid attestations). Slashing provides economic disincentive against attacks. Ethereum slashes a minimum of 1/32 of stake; Solana's slashing is planned but not yet enforced on mainnet as of 2025.
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A consensus mechanism where miners compete to solve computationally expensive puzzles to produce blocks and earn rewards. PoW provides strong security (51% attack resistance) but is energy-intensive. Bitcoin and pre-Merge Ethereum use PoW. The difficulty adjusts to maintain target block times regardless of total network hash power.
The process by which miners expend computational resources to find a nonce producing a block header hash below the current difficulty target, earning the right to append a new block and collect the block reward plus fees. Bitcoin mining uses SHA-256d (double SHA-256) and adjusts difficulty every 2,016 blocks (~2 weeks) to maintain ~10-minute block times. Mining has evolved from CPUs to GPUs to ASICs, with industrial-scale operations dominating the network's hash rate.
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The protocol by which nodes in a distributed network agree on the current state of the ledger. Common mechanisms include Proof of Work (Bitcoin), Proof of Stake (Ethereum, Solana), and BFT variants. Consensus ensures all honest nodes converge on the same transaction history despite potential network delays or malicious actors.
The process of locking cryptocurrency as collateral to participate in network consensus (validation) or to earn rewards. Stakers either run validators directly or delegate to existing validators. Staking provides economic security—validators risk losing staked tokens (slashing) for misbehavior. Annual staking yields typically range from 3-15% depending on the network.
A penalty mechanism in Proof of Stake systems where validators lose a portion of their staked tokens for provable misbehavior (double-signing, extended downtime, invalid attestations). Slashing provides economic disincentive against attacks. Ethereum slashes a minimum of 1/32 of stake; Solana's slashing is planned but not yet enforced on mainnet as of 2025.
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A distributed, append-only ledger that records transactions in cryptographically linked blocks. Each block contains a hash of the previous block, forming an immutable chain. Nodes in the network maintain copies of the ledger and reach agreement through consensus mechanisms. Blockchains enable trustless, decentralized record-keeping without a central authority.
The protocol by which nodes in a distributed network agree on the current state of the ledger. Common mechanisms include Proof of Work (Bitcoin), Proof of Stake (Ethereum, Solana), and BFT variants. Consensus ensures all honest nodes converge on the same transaction history despite potential network delays or malicious actors.
A consensus mechanism where miners compete to solve computationally expensive puzzles to produce blocks and earn rewards. PoW provides strong security (51% attack resistance) but is energy-intensive. Bitcoin and pre-Merge Ethereum use PoW. The difficulty adjusts to maintain target block times regardless of total network hash power.
A database replicated and synchronized across multiple nodes in a network without central administration. All participants maintain identical copies of the ledger. Changes are propagated through consensus. Blockchains are the most common type of distributed ledger, but not all distributed ledgers use a chain-of-blocks structure.