Introduction

In the last video, Bill left off talking about proof of work (PoW) algorithms. In a distributed and decentralized environment, PoW used to be the gold standard for a node to participate equitably in a Blockchain. However, with PoW as the number of nodes on the Blockchain increases, the amount of energy waste increases. This is because each node is performing the same computationally heavy calculation and only one node’s energy usage is leveraged to write the next block.

To reduce the duplication of work and energy consumption, other consensus algorithms like proof of stake (PoS) and proof of authority (PoA) have been invented. These two particular consensus algorithms allow each node on the network to take a turn adding a block to the blockchain. There are also security and bad actor concerns that a consensus algorithm needs to handle to guarantee the validity of data on the blockchain.

In this video, Bill covers consensus and how it can be used to solve the problem he is having with maintaining a single distributed database.

Things you will learn in this video

• Why proof-of-work (PoW) is seen as inefficient.
• How proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-authority (PoA) algorithms work.
• How to apply consensus algorithms to solve everyday tasks.

Video