UNDERSTANDING CRYPTO MINING Pt2: Consensus Mechanisms -Federated Byzantine Agreement
The crypto currency Eco-system is constantly evolving and improving. The community is driven towards achieving cheaper and faster transactions and high levels of security, within a decentralized peer to peer network.
The effect of this drive can be seen in the frequency at which new blockchain networks and communities emerge, each proffering a solution that tackles one or more potential flaws identified within the technical make up of its predecessors. This trend is also evident in the development of consensus mechanisms as developers are constantly attempting to improve on the reliability of blockchain network consensus mechanisms. In this Piece I take a delve into another one of such mechanisms; THE FEDERATED BYZANTINE AGREEMENT.
The Federated Byzantine agreement is often regarded as the most robust consensus mechanism by a significant fraction of experts in the field.
With the federated Byzantine agreement, nodes (miners) within the network vote/select several trusted representatives and then program their nodes to accept a proposed solution to the block equation if a certain number of their pre-selected representatives also accept that solution. Hence consensus is reach faster and randomly because all the nodes do not necessarily need to solve or agree with the solution to the block puzzle before consensus is reached. When a node selects its representatives, it then chooses which representatives must agree before it can accept the solution to the block equation. This group of representatives is known as a quorum. When a transaction is broadcast, a quorum emerges when a certain number of representatives agree on the validity of the transaction and this quorum spreads the consensus through out the network through a kind of ripple effect.
The Federated Byzantine Agreement consensus Algorithm is employed by the Ripple block chain (XRP) Which boasts decent transaction fees. Also, the Stellar Blockchain (XML) also employs an improved version of the FBA to achieve consensus within its network.
ADVANTAGES
-FBA offers open membership, this means that any and everyone can simply sign up and connect to the network and select a quorum. This makes the network fair and eliminates the concern for vested interests as well as makes the process more random and decentralized.
-Because all nodes are not required to reach consensus, the FBA can still function efficiently even if one major node goes down. Possibly why it is considered to be the most robust mechanism.
RISKS
The Federated byzantine agreement runs the risk (very small chance) of encountering a condition known as ‘Divergent quorums’.
This is a situation when the selected quorums do not intersect. If this happens, the network may not reach consensus as the representative generate contradicting solutions.
In conclusion, Cryptocurrency networks through their prolific developers have continuously sort for better ways to achieve trust-less, transparent and decentralized exchange or payment solutions, that ensure user privacy and security without compromising accuracy and efficiency, by developing various consensus mechanisms. Each of the protocols discussed, comes with advantages and constraints that are often unique to their underlying principle.
While the Proof of stake seemingly offers a level playing ground for decentralization and may be considered to be more attack proof, it is also very power consuming and therefore not cost effective.
The #PoS, #DPoS or #FBA are more viable alternatives to the #PoW mechanism in terms of cost efficiency, and may be the reason certain blockchain networks have opted to switch from PoW to one or a combination of the others.
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