Consensus is a smart contract

Consensus is a key part of keeping a blockchain operational. The Koinos consensus algorithm will be announced tomorrow and I'll share my take the day after.

Regardless of what Koinos uses for consensus at launch, what happens if a better design is discovered later on? This is happening right now on Ethereum. ETH2 is a massive change from PoW to PoS. That requires coordination of a lot of different computers installing upgraded software (which is called a hard fork). ETH2 is an entirely new network based on the existing Ethereum blockchain data. If some computers don't like the upgrade, they can theoretically skip it and keep running the old Ethereum network.

Koinos is using microservice architecture. Basically, the actual blockchain code is as minimal as possible and everything else is implemented as smart contracts. So, if Koinos wants to change the consensus algorithm (or most anything else), it can be upgraded without needing to coordinate off-chain software upgrades.

Governance is a separate piece (also a smart contract) that allows voting on on-chain upgrades.

The Koinos blockchain doesn't assume it's perfect at launch. It's designed to be improved rapidly as the Koinos community learns and grows. Don't like the consensus algorithm? Propose a change! Criticism and feedback will only help improve the system.

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Back on Monday,

-Luke

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P.S. If you don't want to wait for my email on Monday, keep an eye on koinos.io and cointelegraph.com for the official consensus announcement.

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