Consensus Mechanism

A consensus mechanism is the ruleset by which distributed network participants agree on which transactions are valid and in what order they occurred — solving the problem of trust without a central authority. Proof of Work (PoW) requires miners to expend energy solving cryptographic puzzles; Proof of Stake (PoS) requires validators to lock capital as collateral. The choice of consensus mechanism has deep implications for security, decentralization, and energy use.