What is Blockchain Consensus Algorithms?
Blockchain is a decentralized system and consensus mathematically allowing thousands of nodes scattered worldwide to agree on the creation of blocks. The consensus mechanism also includes an incentive mechanism to promote the efficient operation of the blockchain system, which is the basis for establishing trust in the blockchains. In short, the blockchain consensus mechanism is an algorithm for achieving distributed consensus on blockchain activity. Due to the high network latency in a peer-to-peer network, the order of the transactions observed by each node may not be the same. Therefore, the blockchain system must design a mechanism to agree on the order of transactions occurring in a similar period. This algorithm is for agreeing to the transaction order over some time is called a "consensus mechanism" Blockchain is a type of distributed system. With the concentration of different blockchain levels, we need different strategies to implement fault-tolerant consensus algorithms to ensure privacy book. The commonly used blockchain consensus mechanisms include POW, POS, DPOS, PBFT, and a consensus mechanism with many different algorithms.
Popular Blockchain Consensus Algorithms:
POW (Proof of Work)
This mechanism is called mining, and the nodes involved are called miners. These miner needs to solve complex mathematical problems with a wide range of computational power. They use different types of mining methods, including GPU mining, CPU mining, ASIC mining, and FPGA mining. However, the process is not that simple. The solution to Puzzles can only be with trial and error. In addition, the puzzle complexity increases with the disassembling of the block's speed. Therefore it is essential to create a new block within a specific time frame to complete the difficulty level.
Advantages:
Safe, stable, and expensive degrees of freedom from node
Altitude decentralization, the open node system
Disadvantages:
Scalability is weak
Poor performance
Cause hardware equipment waste
POS (Proof of Stake)
It is the most popular alternative to PoW. Ethereum has moved from PoW Consensus to PoS Consensus. In this consensus algorithm, instead of investing in expensive hardware to solve a complex puzzle, validators invest in the system coins by locking some of their coins as stakes. Then all validators will start validating blocks. Validators will confirm blocks by staking them if they discover a block they believe can add to the chain. Based on the main blocks added to the Blockchain, all validators get a reward corresponding to their stake, and the stake increases accordingly. Finally, the choosing validator is to generate a new block according to its economic contribution to the network. Therefore, PoS incentivizes validators through an incentive mechanism to reach an agreement.
Advantages:
Less energy
Altitude decentralization, the open node system
Disadvantages:
Complex implementation process
Security breach
DPOS (Delegated Proof of Stake)
Participants place a bet using the delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) because you vote for their coins and a certain number of representatives, the more they invest, the more weight they get. Example: For user A to Spend 10 coins on the agent, user B invest 5 coins and wins, A's vote is Heavier than B's. The deputy also has a transaction fee, or A has a certain amount of coins. With this mission-weighted voting mechanism, DPoS is the fastest blockchain consensus model and is highly preferable as a digital device. Democracy. Practical use cases for this blockchain consensus mechanism include Steem, EOS, and BitShares.
Advantages:
Less energy
High performance
Finality
Disadvantages:
Weak degree decentralization, the closed node system
PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance)
PBFT is a lightweight blockchain algorithm that solves the Byzantine problem. Common issues in allowing users to see their messages provided to them by performing calculations to evaluate decisions about the message validity. The party then announces the decision to the other nodes. Decide it. Thus, the final decision basis is on the decisions taken from other nodes. Stellar, Ripple, and Hyperledger Fabric are some Blockchain consensus mechanisms with use cases.
Advantages:
Higher performance
Finality
High security
Disadvantages:
Weak degree of decentralization, the closed node system
Low fault tolerance
Conclusion
This article summarizes common blockchain consensus algorithms. By explaining different requirements and conditions, internal implementation, four strengths, and weaknesses describe POW, POS, DPOS, and PBFT consensus algorithms. Currently, the hybrid consensus mechanism POW-POS is a hotspot for research. Creating more transparent consensus rules using smart contracts is also a new direction. The consensus algorithm used is also a test of the algorithm. New attack methods allow you to understand the shortcomings of existing consensus algorithms. Furthermore, in the case of consensus algorithms switching pluggable are the trend in the license chain. You can better serve top-level applications with different underlying consensus mechanisms for diverse business scenarios, throughput requirements, and security prerequisites.