All consensus mechanisms are developed to deal with faults in a distributed system and to allow distributed systems to reach a final state of agreement.
These categories deal with all types of faults (fail stop type or arbitrary).
The Rules That Keep Blockchain Networks Agreed and Secure (Part 2)
These common types of consensus mechanisms are as follows: Traditional Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT)-based: With no compute-intensive operations, such as partial hash inversion (as in Bitcoin PoW), this method relies on a simple scheme of nodes that are publisher-signed messages.
Eventually, when a certain number of messages are received, then an agreement is reached.
Leader election-based consensus mechanisms: This arrangement requires nodes to compete in a leader- election lottery, and the node that wins proposes a final value.
PoW used in Bitcoin falls into this category.
Many practical implementations of consensus protocols have been proposed.
With Paxos, nodes are assigned various roles such as Proposer, Acceptor, and Learner.
Why This Matters for Blockchain Technology
Nodes or processes are named replicas, and consensus is achieved in the presence of faulty nodes by agreement among a majority of nodes.
An alternative to Paxos is RAFT, which works by assigning any of three states; that is, follower, candidate, or leader to the nodes.
A leader is elected after a candidate node receives enough votes, and all changes then have to go through the leader.
The leader commits the proposed changes once replication on the majority of the follower nodes is completed.
Key Points to Remember
- Types of consensus mechanisms All consensus mechanisms are developed to deal with faults in a distributed system and to allow distributed systems to reach a final state of agreement.
- These categories deal with all types of faults (fail stop type or arbitrary).
- These common types of consensus mechanisms are as follows: Traditional Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT)-based: With no compute-intensive operations, such as partial hash inversion (as in Bitcoin PoW), this method relies on a simple scheme of nodes that are publisher-signed messages.
- Eventually, when a certain number of messages are received, then an agreement is reached.
Going Deeper: Advanced Concepts
Later , however, a full section is dedicated to the introduction of consensus protocols.
Conclusion
Types of consensus mechanisms represents one of the many innovative layers that make blockchain technology so powerful and transformative. As distributed systems continue to evolve, a solid understanding of these core concepts becomes increasingly valuable — not just for developers, but for anyone building, investing in, or working alongside blockchain-powered systems.
Whether you are just starting your blockchain journey or deepening existing expertise, mastering these fundamentals gives you the tools to think clearly about decentralized systems and make smarter decisions in this rapidly evolving space.