Consensus Mechanisms: The Rules That Keep Blockchain Networks Agreed and Secure (Part 2)

Once the consensus is achieved, a smart contract execution can start and takes a number of steps, as follows: 1.

The transaction is initiated and executes any business logic embedded within the smart contract.

The Rules That Keep Blockchain Networks Agreed and Secure (Part 2)

In case of any failures, an immediate rollback is initiated that reverts that state back to what it was before the execution started.

Finally, the transaction completes and relevant logs are updated.

Pact has been open sourced by Kadena and is available for download at http://kadena.io/pact/downloads.html.

This can be downloaded as a standalone binary that provides a REPL for Pact language.

An example is shown here where Pact is run by issuing the ./pact command in Linux console: Pact REPL, showing sample commands and error output A smart contract in Pact language is usually composed of three sections: keysets, modules, and tables.

These sections are described here: Keysets: This section defines relevant authorization schemes for tables and modules.

Why This Matters for Blockchain Technology

Modules: This section defines the smart contract code encompassing the business logic in the form of functions and pacts.

Pacts within modules are composed of multiple steps and are executed sequentially.

Tables: This section is an access-controlled construct defined within modules.

Only administrators defined in the admin keyset have direct access to this table.

Key Points to Remember

  • Consensus mechanism in Kadena Once the consensus is achieved, a smart contract execution can start and takes a number of steps, as follows: 1.
  • The transaction is initiated and executes any business logic embedded within the smart contract.
  • In case of any failures, an immediate rollback is initiated that reverts that state back to what it was before the execution started.
  • Finally, the transaction completes and relevant logs are updated.

Going Deeper: Advanced Concepts

Code within the module is granted full access, by default to the tables.

These modes include contract definition, transaction execution, and querying.

Conclusion

Consensus mechanism in Kadena 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.