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Foundations: Consensus

What Is a Fork Choice Rule?A blockchain can produce multiple valid-looking histories at the same time

What Is a Fork Choice Rule?A blockchain can produce multiple valid-looking histories at the same time. A fork choice rule is the decision procedure that tells every honest node which branch to treat as canonical, turning a messy tree of blocks into one usable ledger.Mar 21, 202626 min read

What is Leader Election?Leader election is the part of consensus that decides who gets to speak first

What is Leader Election?Leader election is the part of consensus that decides who gets to speak first. That sounds like a scheduling detail, but it turns out to be one of the main ways distributed systems recover from failure, limit chaos, and control who has temporary power over block ordering.Mar 21, 202624 min read

What Is Federated Consensus?Federated consensus tries to solve a hard problem in an unusual way: let anyone join a network, but let each participant decide for itself whom to trust

What Is Federated Consensus?Federated consensus tries to solve a hard problem in an unusual way: let anyone join a network, but let each participant decide for itself whom to trust. The result is a consensus model built from overlapping trust choices rather than a single fixed validator set — powerful when configured well, fragile when those trust relationships do not intersect safely.Mar 21, 202623 min read

What Is a Checkpoint in Blockchain Consensus?A checkpoint is a compact marker for “where the chain stands” at a meaningful boundary

What Is a Checkpoint in Blockchain Consensus?A checkpoint is a compact marker for “where the chain stands” at a meaningful boundary. It matters because consensus systems need a stable point to vote on, finalize around, or sync from without replaying everything from genesis.Mar 21, 202622 min read

What is a Consensus Mechanism?Consensus mechanisms are the answer to a deceptively hard question: how can many machines that do not fully trust one another still agree on a single history? Their design determines not just security, but also who gets influence, how quickly transactions feel final, and what kinds of failures a blockchain can survive

What is a Consensus Mechanism?Consensus mechanisms are the answer to a deceptively hard question: how can many machines that do not fully trust one another still agree on a single history? Their design determines not just security, but also who gets influence, how quickly transactions feel final, and what kinds of failures a blockchain can survive.Mar 21, 202626 min read

What Is Delegated Proof of Stake?Delegated Proof of Stake tries to solve a hard tradeoff in blockchains: how to get fast, cheap consensus without handing permanent control to a small club

What Is Delegated Proof of Stake?Delegated Proof of Stake tries to solve a hard tradeoff in blockchains: how to get fast, cheap consensus without handing permanent control to a small club. It does that by letting token holders elect a limited set of block producers — which improves performance, but makes the system depend much more on governance, voter behavior, and concentration of power.Mar 21, 202625 min read

What is BFT Consensus?BFT consensus solves a harder problem than ordinary coordination: nodes must agree even when some participants lie, equivocate, or selectively go offline

What is BFT Consensus?BFT consensus solves a harder problem than ordinary coordination: nodes must agree even when some participants lie, equivocate, or selectively go offline. That requirement is why BFT systems can offer fast finality — and why they pay for it with quorum rules, extra communication, and stricter assumptions.Mar 21, 202626 min read

What is Attestation?Attestation is the basic vote that makes proof-of-stake consensus work

What is Attestation?Attestation is the basic vote that makes proof-of-stake consensus work. In Ethereum, validators do not just say “I saw this block” — they simultaneously signal which chain head they support and which checkpoints should move toward finality, and the whole system is built around turning those votes into a stable chain.Mar 21, 202627 min read