Grassroot Crypto Education || Assignment on Consensus mechanism by @bossj23 || 24-3-22

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Good day steemians in steemkids community. I'm alive in this community and I keep thanking @fredquantum for making it possible for kids to be part and parcel of crypto knowledge. This opportunity is what many are looking for. @fredquantum has devoted his time to teach us the basics in crypto so that we can have intrinsic knowledge as well as being well-grounded in the crypto world. Today's lecture is about consensus mechanism and I'll try my best to be specific and frank, driving the main points other than just giving details.

What is your own understanding of consensus mechanism in crypto ecosystem?

In every system or ecosystem exist a system of control within it. For a centralised system, authority is always coming from the peak level while in a decentralised system, control is determined by individuals in the system known as nodes. When talking about consensus mechanism, we need to know what these words mean individually. Consensus means general agreement that is, different elements come together to attain a common goal to verify, consummate and secure its authenticity. Agreement must be made before any transaction is verified, confirmed and added to the platform. So in general, consensus mechanism is the process by which various nodes found in the blockchain adopt to reach an agreement or consensus before transactions are added to the valid block and carried out. This mechanism dictates what condition is required so that new blocks can be added to the blockchain. This Mechanism also ensure legit transactions carried on the block chain that is free from any fraudulent activity that turned to trick the system. On Steemit, users[community judgements on upvoting contents] reach a consensus to upvote a content and certify that it is of importance to community members. In crypto ecosystem, this mechanism is very important as it helps interconnected computers connected on the network verify the authenticity of a transaction. And these interconnected computers or nodes reach a consensus or agreement on a transaction before verifying, consummating and adding it to a blockchain. So these transactions on crypto ecosystem pass through certain confirmatory stages before consensus is reached. If consensus wasn't reached on a transaction in crypto ecosystem, it would be justified that such transaction can't be added to the blockchain since the transaction is not legitimate. Blockchain is dependent on consensus mechanism. So in crypto ecosystem, consensus mechanism is used to secure or guarantee security pertaining to information or transactions in the information system. In crypto ecosystem, nodes in a computer network reach a consensus in a blockchain before transactions are made, thereby ensuring its legitimacy.

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Proof of work

POW: was created as a proposed solution to spam mails. It is a protocol seen in blockchain technology that requires members of a system known as nodes in non-existent mathematical puzzle to ensure there's no defrauding in the system. It is a type of decentralized consensus mechanism used for validation or determining if a transaction conforms to or follow certain rules that makes it valid. It is reserved to securing the system and preventing hacking into the system or launching denial service attacks. It is used for transaction validation and crypto mining. Once transactions are validated and added to a blockchain, it has a time-stamp that prevents that amount from being spent again. Examples of block chain that uses this consensus mechanism are litecoin and Bitcoin blockchain.
Validators are selected at random which require sufficient amount of computing power to carry out of validation.

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Proof of stake

POS: proof of stake is a consensus mechanism where validators are selected based on the number of cryptocurrency they hold which is staked. The higher the amount of staked cryptocurrency, the easier the person can be selected. It doesn't require so many expensive equipment which helps reduce amount of computing power to carry out validation. Stakers here using proof of stake earn higher rewards from staking. Examples are Ethereum and so on...

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The Differences between Proof of Work and proof of stake

1: In proof of work, many expensive equipment are needed while in proof of stake, it does not require so many expensive equipment which helps reduce the amount of energy for validation.

2: In proof of work, validators are selected at random and they require sufficient amount of energy for validation while in proof of stake, validators are selected based on the number of cryptocurrency he holds which is staked.

3: Proof of work is less scalable and takes longer period of time before transactions are validated while proof of state is more scalable as transactions are handled with improved speed.

State 4 other types of consensus mechanism and explain

Dpos, delegated proof of stake

is another type of consensus mechanism where delegates in a network delegate to other delegate their voting Power by voting for them. Those participating in validation are elected by other holders and every candidate must have met the requirements for participation and must hold the token to be eligible. If a candidate is considered insufficient in his duties, he'll will be replaced.

POC, proof of capacity

is a type of consensus mechanism where validators acquire hard disk space using large amount of money. The dick space guarantees or provide opportunity for him to be selected as a block validator. So the more disk space he acquires, the more chances of being selected. Plotting and mining is done in this consensus mechanism.
Examples are Chai and spacemint.

Pob, proof of burn

is a consensus mechanism that requires a miner burn a particular coin which enables him buy a mining rig to become a miner. The coins burned may be a native coin or an alternative chain token. An Example of proof of burn is Slimcoin.

Proof of authority

In this consensus mechanism, identities of validators in the blockchain are at stake. These validator stake their reputation on the network and these validators whose reputation or identity are at stake are stimulated to secure and preserve the blockchain network. Microsoft Azure is an example of Proof of Authority.

Cc,
@fredquantum
@steemkidss
@ngoenyi