Replacing Computation with Economic Stake
Proof of Stake (PoS) is an alternative consensus mechanism where block creation and validation rights are awarded to participants based on the amount of native cryptocurrency they have locked as collateral ("staked") in a validator contract.
Ethereum famously transitioned from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake during The Merge in September 2022, reducing network energy consumption by more than 99.9%.
How Validators Operate in PoS
- Staking Requirement: In Ethereum, becoming an independent validator requires depositing 32 ETH into the official deposit contract.
- Committee Attestations: In each epoch, validators are pseudo-randomly assigned to committees to vote on the head of the chain.
- Slashing Conditions: If a validator acts maliciously (such as signing two conflicting blocks at the same height), a portion or all of their staked collateral is automatically destroyed by the protocol.
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