A lot of things about the Hive ecosystem are still a mystery to me, especially the technical aspects of it and i believe I'm not alone in this situation. One of such mysteries to me is the hive consensus and i decided to spend my time unraveling what it really is and what part does it play as part of the cogs that turn the wheels of the hive Blockchain; if you've always been curious about this also, or just interested in adding to your knowledge base today, then kindly walk with me here.
Introduction
To understand what a consensus is, we first have to understand what a Blockchain is.
A blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger technology that records transactions across multiple computers in a way that ensures the security, transparency, and immutability of the data, that is the data in a blockchain is stored in a chain of blocks, where each block contains a set of transactions (transactions can be the transfer of funds from one wallet to another, or posting contents on a platform that runs on the Blockchain).
This ledger is duplicated across all nodes in the network, ensuring that all participants have a copy of the same data, and also this network of nodes (computers) don't just record transactions, but also validates them before hand, this makes the system decentralized, and together with it's cryptographic features, near impossible for any single entity to control or manipulate the system.
What is a Consensus and How Does it Relate to All This?
When users of a Blockchain platform perform transactions on the Blockchain, this transactions need to be validated before they can be added to the Blockchain. The mechanism used to achieve this is known as a Consensus mechanism.
Blockchains use consensus mechanisms to agree on the validity of transactions and the order in which they are to be added to the blockchain.
Common consensus mechanisms include:
Proof of Work (PoW) - this is when a miner (usually a dedicated computer system) or a group miners compete with one another in other to solve a complex mathematical problem, and whichever miner or group solves the problem first gets to add the transaction block to the Blockchain, and as a result are usually rewarded with the native token of the Blockchain, this process is also known as mining. This is the model upon which the first and most popular cryptocurrency is built upon; Bitcoin. This process requires a lot of computing power and by extension a huge demand for energy, hence this makes such mechanism not very energy efficient and a major turnoff for advocates of climate change and environmental preservation.
Proof of Stake (PoS) - Unlike Proof of Work (PoW), PoS relies on validators who are chosen at random to create blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they hold and are willing to "stake" as collateral. ie. the more of the Blockchain's native cryptocurrency a participant is willing to "stake" or lock up as collateral, the higher the chances they have of being selected as a validator. This staking process ensures that validators have a vested interest in the network's security, sort of like a double edged sword IMO. The key advantages of PoS include energy efficiency (compared to PoW), as it doesn't require the energy-intensive mining process, and scalability, as it can process transactions more quickly. Popular blockchain platforms that use PoS include Ethereum 2.0, Cardano, Polkadot, and Tezos.
and lastly
Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) - This is a variant of the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism which aims to combine decentralization with high transaction throughput and energy efficiency, and it works by relying on a smaller group of trusted validators to validate transactions and create new blocks.
This is the consensus mechanism used by the Hive Blockchain, where the validators are called witnesses or delegates. These witnesses are elected by the Hive community based on their vest; which is an extension of the amount of staked Hive they have. The major difference between the PoS and DPoS consensus mechanism is the number of validators, Hive has just 20 validators + 1 backup validator, this enables rapid decision making, a lightning fast transaction, high energy efficiency and scalability in the Blockchain.
Conclusion
So whenever you see the word consensus flying around, just know that this is one of the major pillars of the Hive Blockchain, it is the main reason why the Blockchain is safe, and no single entity can control things for us in an unfavorable manner, also it is the reason why it is possible to earn 14% and 20% respectively on your staked Hive and HBD. So by any means you can, try to support the noble cause of a decentralized financial and data protection system, in future posts, I'll talk about how this can be done.
It is noting here that my knowledge about the Hive ecosystem is still limited and i may not be 100% accurate, so I'd really appreciate it if you can clarify any of such in the comment section. Also I'll keep trying to expand my knowledge about the platform and try to share what i learn with the community.