Protocol atlas
A protocol is a set of assumptions with a name.
Fifteen designs, read with the same five questions. The paper is not the live network. Nothing here is a ranking or a price.
01
Who produces the next block, and how is that right bought?
02
When is a block final, rather than merely popular?
03
Does every honest node execute every transaction?
04
If a header is published, was the body published too?
05
What is the smallest coalition that can forge or freeze the result?
- 01BitcoinA payment ledger without a bank, ordered by proof of work.
- 02EthereumA shared machine for programs, not only for payments.
- 03OuroborosProof of stake divided into slots, with a snapshot of stake.
- 04TendermintA known validator set and a two-thirds quorum.
- 05AvalancheRepeated random sampling instead of a full quorum on every round.
- 06AlgorandA sampled committee, chosen so the members do not know in time to be bribed.
- 07SolanaA clock, a leader schedule, and a pipeline for transactions.
- 08PolkadotA relay that checks many chains, rather than one chain that does every job.
- 09CosmosSovereign chains that pass messages, each with its own validator set.
- 10LightningPayment channels. The base chain is the court, not the till.
- 11ArbitrumExecution asserted off-chain, with a window in which a fraud proof can challenge it.
- 12UniswapA constant-product pool as a market maker.
- 13MakerCollateral, a stability fee, an auction, and a shutdown.
- 14ChainlinkA named committee that signs a value from off-chain.
- 15FilecoinA market that pays storage providers who can prove they still hold the bytes.