Different cryptocurrencies use different ways in order to select a network consensus and thus verify the next block in the chain.

Specifically, the so-called Chinese Ethereum, NEO, developed his own consensus algorithm, called Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance or dBFT for short.

Today I’m going to shortly sum up and explain how this algorithm works.

1

Everyone that holds NEO can vote on who will be their Consensus Node and the Consensus Nodes are responsible for deciding a block (users can vote in a different Consensus Nodes everytime a new vote occurs).

2

Users are responsible for telling the Consensus Nodes their transactions and the Consensus Nodes have to keep track of all the transactions of all the users and then document that on a ledger which is later presented under the form of a block.

3

When the time comes to verify a block, one Consensus Node is randomly selected to propose his block. The selected Consensus Node is then responsible for sending this block to all the other existing Consensus Nodes, which will then decide if the presented block matches their own and together they will verify if the presented block is correct.

4

If at least 66% of the Consensus Nodes agree on the presented block, it is accepted and becomes the next state of the network. When less than 66% of the Consensus Nodes are in agreement, a new Consensus Node is randomly selected to present his own block and the presentation restarts.

So this is it. It can be very easily explained. For clarification, I will soon add some images to further simplify the explanation.

Now, in order to become a Consensus node, you are required to own and abide by certain rules. At the time of writing this article, you need to have a dedicated internet connection and own a certain number of GAS, which is currently 1000 but might change in the future.

If you’d like to read more about NEO, check out our previous news article on this cryptocurrency.