LibraryConsensus2020Design paperCorpus record
Ethereum proof-of-stake consensus specifications
Ethereum consensus specs. Ethereum consensus-spec contributors.
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.
A reading of the project's public design document. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not an offer.
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.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 7
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
A blog post about the Merge is not the spec. A client that disagrees with this repository is either wrong or running a fork.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The proposal
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.
Claim 03 · Paper model
The mechanism
The beacon state, the fork-choice rule, and the validator custody duties are specified separately and have to be cited by their document.
Claim 04 · Paper model
The bound
This note does not restate the state-transition function.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
A blog post about the Merge is not the spec. A client that disagrees with this repository is either wrong or running a fork.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading ethereum/consensus-specs. The Gasper paper is the companion study, not a replacement.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Is the client you run tracking this commit, or a fork?
02 The proposal
Observation
What the study says
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.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading ethereum/consensus-specs. The Gasper paper is the companion study, not a replacement.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Does the rule live in the fork choice or in the state transition?
03 The mechanism
Observation
What the study says
The beacon state, the fork-choice rule, and the validator custody duties are specified separately and have to be cited by their document.
Model
What has to hold
The document is the one at the source URL. A marketing page with the same brand is not this text.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Does the rule live in the fork choice or in the state transition?
04 The bound
Observation
What the study says
This note does not restate the state-transition function.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading ethereum/consensus-specs. The Gasper paper is the companion study, not a replacement.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Does the rule live in the fork choice or in the state transition?
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01The beacon state, the fork-choice rule, and the validator custody duties are specified separately and have to be cited by their document.
- 02A later upgrade folder in the repository can supersede an earlier one. The folder you opened is the version.
- 03This repository does not set the price of ether and does not define rollup bridges.
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
What the name has to mean
The cut
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.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
Gasper, the paper, remains a separate study.
What actually moves
The cut
A later upgrade folder in the repository can supersede an earlier one. The folder you opened is the version.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.
What a later deployment may change
The cut
This repository does not set the price of ether and does not define rollup bridges.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
You are reading ethereum/consensus-specs. The Gasper paper is the companion study, not a replacement.
Model · Not re-measured
The document is the one at the source URL. A marketing page with the same brand is not this text.
Model · Not re-measured
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
A client's release notes are not the spec, though they may claim to track it.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
A blog post about the Merge is not the spec. A client that disagrees with this repository is either wrong or running a fork.
What the design proposes
- The beacon state, the fork-choice rule, and the validator custody duties are specified separately and have to be cited by their document.
- A later upgrade folder in the repository can supersede an earlier one. The folder you opened is the version.
- This repository does not set the price of ether and does not define rollup bridges.
How the mechanism is specified
- The beacon state, the fork-choice rule, and the validator custody duties are specified separately and have to be cited by their document.
- A later upgrade folder in the repository can supersede an earlier one. The folder you opened is the version.
- This repository does not set the price of ether and does not define rollup bridges.
What this page does not treat as proven
- This note does not restate the state-transition function.
- Gasper, the paper, remains a separate study.
- A client's release notes are not the spec, though they may claim to track it.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Fork choice
- The rule that picks the head. It is not the same document as the state transition.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.