This year we once again want to brighten up the Advent season for our readers with an Advent calendar. In a slightly different form, each door contains a “knowledge bomb” that will be supplemented with a special prize on Christmas Day.
The term Proof-of-Stake (PoS) is hidden behind the second door. To enter the competition on the 24th, simply take part in the surveys and like the respective Twitter posts.
Proof of Stake
Proof-of-Stake (PoS for short) is the second most popular consensus mechanism next to Proof-of-Work. Analogous to its historical predecessor, the Proof-of-Stake consensus validates transactions of a blockchain. PoS was originally invented as an alternative to Proof-of-Work (PoW), eliminating the need for energy-intensive mining. Instead of requiring computing power, network participants can stake cryptocurrencies to validate transactions.
This year, the proof-of-stake mechanism flared up mainly due to the merge that took place in September. The term refers to the transition of the second largest blockchain (Ethereum) from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. Generally, Proof-of-Stake is seen as a low-energy alternative that makes tradeoffs in decentralization. Appropriate for a smart contract enabled blockchain, possibly rather less so for “digital gold” / hard money.
