BigBang Core: Finding Consensus
There are a plethora of consensus mechanisms out there. Lets break down a few of the all-stars and discuss what BigBang Core is doing differently.
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The “Best” Consensus Mechanism?
Undoubtedly, Consensus Mechanisms hold great significance in the blockchain eco-system. These are the protocols that ensure the synchronization of all nodes, agreement on legitimate transactions and their addition to the blockchain. These mechanisms aid in the correct functionality of the blockchain and ensure that all the users use the same blockchain. Some notable consensus mechanisms are:
- Proof of Work (PoW)
- Proof of Stake (PoS)
- Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)
- Proof of Capacity (PoC)
Though there are a number of consensus mechanisms today, most of them are not beneficial and hinder the operation of blockchains. Well publicized networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum, are coming face-to-face with certain issues like transaction speed etc., and their consensus mechanism is a contributing factor to these issues. The consensus that is chosen by a specific network is key when it comes to striving for speed and scalability (both topics we covered in previous articles), especially with the vast amounts of data on the Internet of Things. So lets take a look at what some of the more notable networks are doing and what BigBang Core is doing differently.
Consensus Mechanisms: Bitcoin and Ethereum
The consensus mechanism employed by Bitcoin as well as Ethereum is Proof of Work (PoW). In this mechanism, the digital currency distribution is done depending upon the miners’ workload. The greater the workload, the more the distribution of digital currency will take place. In Proof of Work (PoW), transaction confirmation is done by the miners by competing to solve a mathematical problem. Users are awarded with rewards for successful mining activities, and it requires a huge amount of computing power. The users are rewarded each time they verify a new block. The problem’s complexity is designed for controlling the currency rule. This mechanism is, no doubt, very helpful in solving the Byzantine general problem. Furthermore, for the verification of each new block, every node in the network has to store all the previous blocks in the chain. However, many users regard it as inefficient and a drain on resources.
The Issue with PoW (Proof of Work):
PoW is prone to a number of issues, which makes it difficult for some users to carry out their work efficiently. The major drawback is that it is resource hungry and is, most probably, going to be unsustainable in the future. Given below are a few examples of the issues with PoW:
- Less Security
The PoW consensus encounters security issues such as 51% attacks.
- Energy Consumption
The blockchains that employ PoW consume a lot of energy. It is estimated by Digiconomist that in a single year, approximately 73.12 TWh has been consumed by Bitcoin, resulting in extremely high costs. The following graph shows the energy consumed by Bitcoin (although this chart is dated for the years 2017/2018, Bitcoin’s energy consumption has not risen much higher since this time, topping out at around 77 Twh in 2020).
- Scaling Issue
Because every node needs to store the whole blockchain for the verification of transactions, a time will come when the chain will become too large for smaller nodes to store every block, creating a scaling dilemma (the Bitcoin blockchain as reached a size of 302.22 gigabytes as of September 2020).
Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus is successful in overcoming the problems of Proof of Work (PoW) consensus. Ethereum is planning to switch to PoS from PoW. However, PoS also has certain disadvantages such as difficulty in determining the accounting nodes’ number, unanticipated problem of centralization, etc. There are many other consensus mechanisms, but they possess different disadvantages which in turn, would throw up more obstacles for blockchain companies and networks.
BigBang Core’s Solution
Today, there are many mixed consensus mechanisms. These are used to overcome certain drawback from one single consensus. These mixed consensus include
- DPoS + BFT (Delegated Proof of Stake + Byzantine Fault Tolerance)
- PoW + PoS (Proof of Work + Proof of Stake)
- Etc.
BigBang Core believes that mixed consensus will facilitate the public chains greatly in the future and hence, has developed a mixed consensus, to give its users an efficient and streamlined experience.
EDPoS + CPoW
The consensus mechanism employed by BigBang core is EDPoS + CPoW. Extensible Delegated Proof of Stake (EDPoS) and Continuity Proof of Work (CPoW) were created in order to prevent the whole ecological operation stopping from the collapse of a single consensus node. In this mechanism, the block reward is equal to the mining reward + total transaction fee of the blockchain transactions. The probability of the node packaging can be increased by voting for an EDPoS node by token. Then the block reward is shared among voters by vote. For a node to become an EDPoS node, it must raise over 2% of total tokens. A supplement of EDPoS is the CPoW. Each round of EDPoS consensus has some probability of deciding the packaging by CPoW consensus. A packaging sequence is established by EDPoS nodes by secure computing, and a true number beacon is generated. EDPoS dominates the mechanism for assessing the node that will get the right block next time or signaling the generation of the next block by workload proof consensus. I know, I know, perhaps your brain is melting a little but the long and short of it is, it works. You can dig a little deeper into the nitty-gritty by checking out our White Paper.
Benefits of EDPoS + CPoW
- Enhancement in Security and Reliability.
- Greater Consistency
- Increased Scalability
Why is this Important?
With the help of its mixed consensus, BigBang Core will provide its users with a safe and secure environment for carrying out their work, without any delay. Furthermore, it will enable different industries in saving costs, increasing revenue and lowering risk, with minimum power consumption.
Jengengbao Hangzhou:
Launched in 2011, Jengengbao is the first free energy-saving service provider, concerned with the management and operation of energy-saving emission reduction technologies.
BigBang Core facilitated Jengengbao in transforming and upgrading its product chips for accomplishing data security on the chain with minimum cost. The combination of blockchain and big data technologies helps companies in reducing the time and energy of manual analysis and statistics along with decreasing energy and resource consumption, saving substantial costs.
Conclusion
While PoW alone, has proved a popular consensus mechanism in blockchain networks, we can see that it has a number of drawbacks. By combining consensus mechanisms, we can take advantage of the strengths that each one brings. BigBang Core has been working hard to come up with a consensus mechanism that allows it’s users to benefit from a reduction in resource wastage, high-concurrency and much improved efficiency.
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