Consensus Security Considerations

Consensus

⎊ The integrity of distributed ledger technology relies fundamentally on consensus mechanisms, establishing agreement on a single state of the blockchain without a central authority. Security considerations within consensus protocols center on resistance to attacks like 51% attacks, where a malicious actor controls a majority of the network’s hashing power, potentially enabling double-spending or censorship. Robust consensus designs, such as Proof-of-Stake, aim to mitigate these risks by altering the economic incentives and computational requirements for network manipulation, influencing the cost-benefit analysis for potential attackers.