Steemit Crypto Academy – Season 4 - Week 7 - Post for @yohan2on

Question 1 - Who are Super Representatives, SR partners and SR candidates? (The Governance of the TRON Ecosystem)

Super Representatives

The Tron blockchain network is one of the top blockchain networks at the moment with lot of decentralized applications built on it and lots of use cases. It is a decentralized blockchain network that makes use of the delegated proof of stake consensus mechanism and with smart contract functionalities. When it comes to the governance on the Tron network, the Super Representatives play a key role. On the Tron Network, Super Representatives are basically block producers on the Tron blockchain network. The Super Representatives on the Tron blockchain network are the top 27 block producers who have the most votes on the network. The main role of the Super Representatives on the Tron Network is to produce blocks, verify transactions and add new blocks to the chain.

On the Tron network, any account on the network that holds TRX can become a super representative candidate, and also, the super representative can be voted in by any account that holds TRX on the network. The voting for the super representative is carried out every 6hrs and the top 27 candidates that have received the most votes becomes the super representative on the Tron network. These Super Representatives earn block rewards for verifying transactions and adding new block to the chain, and are rewarded with 32 TRX. Since it takes about 3 secs for a block to be generated on the Tron blockchain, it means that the top 27 super representatives are rewarded with about 336,384,000 TRX annually.

_{Screenshot from Tronscan}

SR partners

On the Tron Network, the SR partners which is the short for Super Representative Partners are also part of the super representative candidate but are ranked after the top 27th candidates who become the super representatives. The SR partners are basically the 28 to 127 candidates. This are the candidates that didn’t make it to the top due to not being among the top 27 candidates with the most votes to become the super representatives. This means that the candidates from 28 to 127 become the SR partners on the tron network. The SR partners are automatically chosen after the completion of the votes for the super representatives. SR partners are voted in by any account that hold TRX on the tron network. Token holders who are any accounts that hold TRX on the Tron network are eligible to vote for super representatives. The main role of the SR partners on the Tron Network is to Raise Proposals and Modify the TRON network parameters.

_{Screenshot from Tronscan}

SR candidates

On the Tron Network, the SR candidates which is the short for the super representative candidates are basically the 147 nodes that are voted by the entire community that holds TRX on the tron network. The SR candidates voting is carried out and updated once every 6hrs. These are the all the candidates or nodes in which the top 27 candidates with the most votes becomes the super representative and the other candidates ranking from 28 to 127 become the super representative partners.

_{Screenshot from Tronscan}

Question 2 - What’s the difference between DPOS and POS consensus mechanisms?

Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) consensus mechanism

The delegated proof of stake (DPOS) is also one of the top consensus mechanisms that has been around for quite some time now. DPOS is basically consensus mechanism that was created after the proof of stake, as an alternative, to offer high performance and more energy efficient. The delegated proof of stake DPoS consensus mechanism operates a little bit differently from the regular proof of stake. The DPOS was created in 2014 by Dan Larimer who is known for his works at bitshares and steem. DPoS operates on an election process where coin holders vote for delegates who are assigned the role of validating transactions on the network and adding new block in the chain. DPOS was developed as an alternative to the POS, and is seen to have its benefits as compared to the POS.

DPOS operates like digital democracy where the witnesses or delegates are elected or voted by stake holders on the network. These witnesses or delegates reach agreement in order to validate transactions and add new block to the chain. Depending on the blockchain network, DPOS blockchains have their own set of rules that govern the network. A fixed number of witnesses that ranges from 21-101 or in some blockchains 20-100 are chosen for each new block. This means that a witness for each new block might vary. These witnesses who were elected and voted by the stake holders of the network are rewarded for validating transactions and adding new blocks on the chain.

Stake holders who are users who stake their coins in the network becomes eligible proportionally vote for witnesses based on the number of coins staked. Also, in DPOS blockchains, stake holders are able to delegate their stake to other stake holders on the network who then votes on their behalf. For producing new blocks, witnesses take their turns to produce new blocks every few seconds. In some DPOS blockchain networks, the witnesses have a stake to show commitment in the network. Examples of DPOS blockchains are;

• Steem
• EOS
• Tron
• Bitshares

Proof of stake (POS) consensus mechanism

The proof of stake (POS) is without a doubt one of the top consensus mechanisms that has been around for quite some time now. Proof of stake is basically consensus mechanism that is considered the second most popular consensus mechanism created after the popular and king of consensus mechanisms known as the proof of work. POS was created as an alternative for the proof of work to be more efficient. In POS, nodes who are known as the validators or block producers secure the network by validating transactions and adding new block to the chain. The validators or block producers in the POS are selected based on the amount of stake each of the nodes have on the network. These validators are rewarded through the network fees.

The nodes who are the validators on the POS, stake their assets to become eligible to be selected randomly to become validators or block producers on the network. The more coins each node has staked on the network, the higher the chance of being selected. Once the validator has been randomly selected, they are responsible for securing the POS network by verifying transactions on the blockchain network and adding a new block on the chain. Also, apart from the amount of coins the nodes have staked on the network, how long it have been staked are taken into consideration in order for the nodes to reach consensus. Examples of POS blockchains networks are;

• Cardano
• Polkadot
• Zilliqa
• Cosmos

Question 3 - Write a Step by Step tutorial showcasing how to stake/freeze TRX and vote for SRs

Staking TRX

To demonstrate how to stake TRX, I will be making use of the tronlink wallet browser extension wallet. To do this, I will launch the tronlink wallet

Next is to click on “Stake”

After that, tronlink will automatically launch the tronscan interface with my wallet connected to proceed with the staking process.

Next, click on obtain

On the pop up box, by default it is set to Tron power and bandwidth. Input the amount of TRX you want to stake on the tron network. For me, I inputted 5 TRX.

Next is to click on the check box icon to authorize the confirmation.

After that, click on “Stake” to proceed with the staking

Next is to execute the transaction by signing smart contract transaction on tronlink wallet. Click on sign

Done, the TRX have been successfully staked on the tron network. Click OK

Voting for SRs

To demonstrate how to vote for SRs, I will be making use of the tronscan platform and tronlink wallet. To do this, I will be connecting my tronlink extension wallet to tronscan. To do this, I will first visit the justswap platform at https://tronscan.org

To connect my tronlink wallet to tronscan, click on “Connect Wallet”

_{Screenshot from Tronscan}

Next, from the wallet connect options, I choose tronlink and clicked on connect

After that, the tronlink wallet will be connected to tronscan platform

Next, to begin the voting process, click on the “Governance” tab at the top

From the Governance drop-down options, select “Votes”

Next, click on Vote

Next, select the SR you want to vote and click on the + to add the quantity of votes. For this, I chose BinanceStaking which is ranked number 1 on the list and added 1 vote.

After that, click on “Voting”

Next is to execute the vote transaction by signing smart contract transaction on tronlink wallet. Click on sign

Done, the vote has been submitted successfully. Click OK

Conclusion

Tron blockchain network has proven to be one of the top blockchain networks at the moment with a lot of decentralized applications built on it and use cases. When it comes to consensus mechanisms, the proof of stake and delegated proof of stake are some of the two most popular consensus mechanisms behind proof of work. Tron blockchain is one of the blockchains that make use of the delegated proof of stake and has proven the benefits of proof of stake with its governance, fast transaction speed, energy efficiency and low transaction fees.