{"document_id":"BLC-STUDY-0703","slug":"ethereum-consensus-specs","title":"Ethereum proof-of-stake consensus specifications","authors":"Ethereum consensus-spec contributors","year":2020,"date_label":"2020","publisher":"Ethereum consensus-spec contributors","paper_type":"Design paper","category":"Consensus","topics":["Consensus"],"source_url":"https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-specs","source_label":"ethereum/consensus-specs","legacy_pdf_path":null,"sha256":null,"sha256_note":"No hash is published. This build does not store those PDF bytes, so a checksum would be invented. Where a legacy path exists, it points at the Internet Archive copy of the old library.","version":"Source cited by the 2020 study. The study is the reading. This page does not add a second essay.","doi":null,"rights_status":"Official external source only","source_status":"Official source","use_status":"Metadata and commentary only. The reading is the study page.","licence":null,"licence_label":"No licence recorded. Rights status under review.","full_text":null,"full_text_reason":"Full text is not published on this page. Public availability is not a licence to republish a document. Blockchain Lab has not recorded a licence that permits an HTML transcription, a training set, or a retrieval corpus of the paper. Text on this page is Blockchain Lab's own wording, or a pointer to a study that is also Blockchain Lab's wording.","repository":"https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-specs","editorial_line":"The consensus-specs repository is the document set that defines the beacon chain, fork choice, and validator duties. Gasper is the research name. This repository is the specification.","canonical_url":"https://blockchainlab.com/whitepaper/ethereum-consensus-specs","record_url":"https://blockchainlab.com/research/corpus/papers/ethereum-consensus-specs","study_url":"https://blockchainlab.com/whitepaper/ethereum-consensus-specs","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","last_checked":"2026-10-01","relationships":[{"rel":"Canonical reading","label":"Ethereum consensus specs study","href":"/whitepaper/ethereum-consensus-specs"},{"rel":"Related paper","label":"Gasper","href":"/whitepaper/gasper"},{"rel":"Related paper","label":"Casper FFG","href":"/whitepaper/casper-ffg"},{"rel":"Related paper","label":"Tendermint","href":"/whitepaper/tendermint"}]}