A fundamental problem in large-scale distributed systems is how to achieve overall system reliability in the presence of failures. Systems need to be fault-tolerant. This requires a process for distributed, often heterogeneous systems to reach a consensus and agree on the network state, whether it is a database commit or an action to take. In this section, we will discuss two types of consensus algorithms, PoW and proof-of-stake (PoS).
Anatomizing a blockchain consensus mechanism
What is consensus?
Consensus in a blockchain is the process by which a network of mutually distrusted nodes reaches an agreement on the global state of the chain of blocks. In blockchain, transactions or data are shared and distributed across the...