Proof of stake consensus mechanism

Today am going to talk about proof of stake consensus mechanism, I will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of this consensus mechanism. We know in proof of stake validators are mostly choosen based on the staking power, yes the amount one stake goes a long way in determining if they will be choosen as a validator and this validators are vested with the sole responsibility of creating new blocks as well as verifying transactions on the blockchain, which is in stark contrast of how things actually takes place in proof of work consensus mechanism, but ofcourse am not going to talk about that for now. Today I dwell majorly on proof of stake, it's merit and bad side if any.

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Advantages Of proof of stake

Proof of stake uses much less computational energy hence it's a consensus mechanism that's energy efficient since unlike proof of work that needs high computational energy in other to solve complex puzzles leading to block creation that's not the case here there is a reduced amount of electricity being used here which ensures for an energy efficient algorithm, so energy efficiency is one of the advantage of proof of stake consensus mechanism.

Also this consensus mechanism like we know it's energy efficient due to the usage of small amount of electricity, so since there isn't any need for much energy consumption as well as computational power this means that unlike in PoW there won't be need for getting mining hardwares which are rather too expensive just to mine block. So proof of stake consensus mechanism is a cost effective especially when compared to proof of work, they ensure that there is a reduced cost of operations for it's network participate which thus helps to booster to a great degree the amount of users in the network. Since there is a reduced cost of operation proof of stake becomes a consensus mechanism which is not just accesibile but always appealing to a host of persons.

Proof of stake is also a more scalable network, no wonder ethereum aiming to move from the traditional proof of work to proof of stake to increase the transaction throughput of the chain and thus help reduce the high cost of transaction commonly experienced in the chain. so in all the proof of stake is a more scalable network than proof of work and that's one major advantage of this consensus mechanism and as such is a scalable network atleast in comparison to PoW.

There has always been complaint about bitcoin and the proof work for it's high use of computational energy due to the emission if carbon which is bad for the environment. But the proof of stake is actually more friendly to the environment, it uses less electrical power which means there isn't risk of negative impact on the environment, so the proof of stake is actually an environmental sustainable consensus mechanism.

Disadvantages of proof of stake

One of the challenge or disadvantages of proof is stake is that due to how the validators are choose mostly from those that staked more this means that decision making in the chain may reside among mostly large stakeholders and this poses a challenge to the networks bid to achieve true decentralization and this is a major dis-merit.

Well early adopters has more chances of being validators as they are more likely to have more staking power which could create a kind of oligarchy system, for a blockchain network there would actually be a concentration of wealth among a few validators which negates the very idea of how a blockchain should run as here only few participants that's early comers have decision making power and is able to control major part of the network.

Some times too in this network when its filled up with larger stakeholders and early adopters they tend to create a dominant force in the staking environment and often they could tend to be and insane entry barrier as things would now be looked from the perspective of this large stakeholders and when the entry barrier becomes significantly high it means for the small users or those that have low staking power there is no chance ever for them to become validators this thus create a total centralized system, yes the is now centralization in a blockchain due to the nature of this consensus mechanism as power of control over the network and decision making is shared a cross a few participants this creates a centralized system posing serious security issues on the chain.

Conclusion

Ofcourse whatever consensus mechanism we are choosing there is usually an advantage and disadvantages hence it's important we make our choice based on what we are hoping to achieve and what we are willing to risk, true in adverse cases proof of stake consensus mechanism risk being centralized but ofcourse I believe there are things that could be done to prevent this and ensure power is properly dispense and this will form the basis for my next discussion