Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol

The five-minute read

One action, walked through

1. Open EIP 225 and read the status line before the examples.
2. Write down the rule in one sentence. A fair version of that sentence is: Clique is a proof-of-authority consensus protocol.
3. Name the object that changes: Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol.
4. Ask what an old client, an old contract, or an offline counterparty does. If the document is silent, the silence is part of the design.

The argument, unpacked

What has to be true

• You are implementing EIP 225 at the status the text itself states: Final.
• The object that has to change is Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol. A neighbouring document with a similar name is not this one.
• Wallet support is not the same as consensus validity.

What happened after the paper

The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it. Later documents can narrow, replace, or ignore this one. Cite the number you mean.

What to check before you use the idea

• What is covered by the signed bytes in Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol?
• Can the same signature be replayed on another chain, account, or message?
• Which primitive does the text require: Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol?

Terms

EIP 225

The public text titled Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol.

Final

The document's own label for how finished the text is. It is not a market fact.

The problem the paper names

A signature that does not commit to what the user saw can be replayed into a different spend, a different chain, or a different message.

What the design proposes

• Clique is a proof-of-authority consensus protocol.
• It shadows the design of Ethereum mainnet, so it can be added to any client with minimal effort.
• It ran from July 2015 to about November 2016, when due to the accumulated junk and some testnet consensus issues between Geth and Parity, it was finally laid to rest in favor of a testnet reboot.

How the mechanism is specified

• Taken from the specification, the next constraint is: It shadows the design of Ethereum mainnet, so it can be added to any client with minimal effort.
• Locate Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol in EIP 225 and apply it to one transaction or call.
• Then check the failure the class of rule always has: a node that did not upgrade, a reverted call, a replayed signature, or a peer that does not speak the message.

What this page does not treat as proven

• A signature scheme is not a privacy system. It hides the signer only if the protocol says so.
• Wallet support is not the same as consensus validity.
• The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.

Why a venture studio still reads it

Use EIP 225 when a pitch says 'Clique proof-of-authority consensus protocol' without saying whether the rule is consensus, policy, or an interface. The number is the citation. The pitch is not.