Consensus Algorithms Beyond Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS)

The world of blockchain technology is really growing massively and has come to change the mindset we have over Decentralisation. It is the heart of the Blockchain world and it has offer a whole lot of things that has changed our financial world around and one of it is the consensus algorithm which many of us always know but we actually know little about it actually.

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When it comes consensus algorithms, there are two types which I want to talk about today which is the proof of work(PoW) and the proof of stake (PoS). They are the most use d types of consensus algorithms which have helped to give a whole lot of solutions beyond what we can ever imagine of. It has helped to overcome a whole lot of limitations like the scalability and the centralisation risks involved in it actually.

Both of them I mean the PoW and the PoS have their own limitations. Let me start from the Pow which is proof of work, the way it works, it requires miners to solve mathematical problems that are complex so that those transactions can be carried out but it is energy demanding in nature which can have negative effect on the environment. For the PoS, it is less energy demanding because it works based on the number of tokens that have been staked but also the risk is it can be operated Centralized which is not good.

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But even though PoW and PoS are the two major types of consensus algorithms we know, there are more coming up recently. The first is DPoS which stands for delegated proof of stake. It came to reintroduce what PoS failed to introduce. We also have the PBFT which stands for Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance. This works to make sure that there is an agreement that is reached before any transactions are validated. PBFT helps to offer faster transactions than all other types of the consensus algorithm talked about.

Talking about the future of consensus algorithms, I am so sure that it is here to stay whether we like it or not. Of course there might be some challenges that might be surrounding the types of consensus algorithms I have talked about today whether the ones I have mentioned or the ones I didn't mention, but I believe it is just a matter of time before a solution is been offered to overcome it. As we begin to see the application of Blockchain expanding all over the space, it is just a matter of time before we start seeing more use case of consensus algorithms.