Glossary · Consensus

Proof of stake.

A consensus family where block producers are chosen in proportion to the stake they control.

Think of it as

Voting weight scales with skin in the game. The more ada you stake, the more often you're picked to validate.

In depth

Unlike proof of work, where miners burn energy to compete for blocks, proof of stake elects producers using on-chain randomness weighted by how much currency they (and their delegators) stake. Cardano runs Ouroboros, the first proof-of-stake protocol to ship with peer-reviewed academic security proofs.

Example

A stake pool controlling 1% of all delegated ada is elected to produce roughly 1% of the next epoch’s blocks.

Next on this path

  1. Ouroboros Cardano’s family of proof-of-stake consensus protocols.
  2. Stake pool A node that produces blocks on behalf of itself and its delegators.
  3. Delegation Pointing your stake at a specific stake pool so it can produce blocks on your behalf.