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A consensus mechanism refers to any number of methodologies used to achieve agreement, trust, and security across a decentralized computer network.

Consensus Algorithm

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A consensus algorithm is a fault-tolerant mechanism that is used in computer and blockchain systems to achieve the necessary agreement on a single data value or a single state of the network among distributed processes or multi-agent systems.

On the BitcoinBitcoin1$ 97,615.380.18%-6.01%-15.89%details blockchain, for instance, the consensus mechanism is known as Proof-of-Work (PoW) temuland crypto glossary - proof of work Proof of work (PoW) is a decentralized consensus mechanism that requires members of a network to expend effort solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle to prevent anybody from gaming the system.Learn more, which requires the exertion of computational power in order to solve a difficult but arbitrary puzzle in order to keep all nodes in the network honest.

The computer can be used as a tool to liberate and protect people, rather than to control them.

Hal Finney
Computer scientist and early bitcoin contributor