Attestation

An attestation is a cryptographic message sent by a validator to confirm that they have seen and validated a specific block. In many proof-of-stake protocols, validators must attest to blocks to help the network reach consensus on the state of the ledger.

These attestations are aggregated to provide a weight of agreement that eventually leads to block finality. If a validator fails to submit attestations, they lose out on rewards and may eventually be penalized.

Attestations are the building blocks of consensus, providing the proof that the network agrees on the validity of transactions. They are a constant stream of communication between nodes, reflecting the ongoing health and synchronization of the distributed network.