Longest Chain Explained - A Farmer Analogy

Let’s pretend we’re all farmers living in a small town. Majority of us farm rice as our major source of income. Weharvest the rice and pack them into 1KG gunny sacks and then carry the sacks to the Townhall. The sacks are then placed onto the only carriage the town has and transported to The Main City and sold.

The Town Hall Meeting: One day a Town Hall meeting is called to discuss the size of the gunny sacks...

An angry debate ensues on whether or not they should increase the size of each gunny-sack. Some farmers want the increased gunny-sack size for increased profits. But other farmers are against the idea – and claim it will make it more difficult for the older/younger/weaker farmers to carry the gunnysack to the Townhall. The Mayor suggests that a vote should be conducted to solve the matter. However, an objection is raised:

“How is that fair? I do more work than these guys. I harvest far more rice. My vote should count more”

​ The Vote : That’s when a farmer named Satoshi comes up with an idea. He suggested that the next time they come to the town hall – they vote with their gunny-sacks of rice.

Each gunny-sack would represent a vote. That way, if you have more gunny-sacks you can cast more votes.Each sack of rice would be proof of their hard work. Farmers who worked harder, had more rice – and hence got to cast more votes

The Result : Everyone loved the idea. The next day, two rows were laid out near the Town Hall. The first row represented “Increase Gunny Sack Size” and the second row represented “Don't Increase Gunny Sack Size”

Farmers would carry their gunny sacks to the town hall and place each sack in one of the two rows – thus casting their vote. The row that had the longer chain of gunny sacks would be picked as the final decision. At the end of the day, the “Don't Increase Gunny Sack Size” row had the longer chain of gunny sacks – and thus was the winner!