LibraryConsensus2017Design paperCorpus record
The Sleepy Model of Consensus
Sleepy Consensus. Rafael Pass and Elaine Shi.
Only awake nodes participate. A public randomness beacon picks a leader from the awake stake. Sleeping nodes do not have to be online to keep their stake safe.
A reading of the public document. Not a copy of it, and not a claim about a later network that reused the name.
A staking design that punishes everyone who misses a slot has refused this model. Ask what an offline holder must do.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 5
Code
Source, repository, and what is actually hosted
- ePrint 2016/918https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/918
- The source URL is not a GitHub repository. No code remote is invented.
- Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
- Add to a reading list
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
Proof of stake had been stuck on the nothing-at-stake and costless-simulation problems, and on the fact that most holders are offline.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The rule
Only awake nodes participate. A public randomness beacon picks a leader from the awake stake. Sleeping nodes do not have to be online to keep their stake safe.
Claim 03 · Paper model
How it is put together
Sleepy means offline, not Byzantine. The adversary cannot grind the leader lottery after seeing the future. A node that wakes up can tell which chain is the one honest awake nodes built.
Claim 04 · Paper model
Where the claim stops
The paper is not Ouroboros and not Casper.
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
Proof of stake had been stuck on the nothing-at-stake and costless-simulation problems, and on the fact that most holders are offline.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Who is assumed awake?
02 The rule
Observation
What the study says
Only awake nodes participate. A public randomness beacon picks a leader from the awake stake. Sleeping nodes do not have to be online to keep their stake safe.
Model
What has to hold
Awake majority is the security assumption. Count it.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Who is assumed awake?
03 How it is put together
Observation
What the study says
Sleepy means offline, not Byzantine. The adversary cannot grind the leader lottery after seeing the future. A node that wakes up can tell which chain is the one honest awake nodes built.
Model
What has to hold
Awake majority is the security assumption. Count it.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Can the leader lottery be ground?
04 Where the claim stops
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Time is divided into slots.
- 02A slot leader extends the chain it considers heaviest.
- 03A node that was asleep downloads and applies the same fork-choice rule.
- 04Who is assumed awake?
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
Why it is still on the desk
The cut
A staking design that punishes everyone who misses a slot has refused this model. Ask what an offline holder must do.
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.
After the text
The cut
Ouroboros Praos and later sleepy-style protocols share the awake-majority idea. Ethereum's inactivity leak is a different answer to offline stake.
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
Awake majority is the security assumption. Count it.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
The paper is not Ouroboros and not Casper.
Data · Not re-measured
It does not solve light-client data availability by itself.
Stake and threshold · Not re-measured
Awake majority is the security assumption. Count it.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
Ouroboros Praos and later sleepy-style protocols share the awake-majority idea. Ethereum's inactivity leak is a different answer to offline stake.
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
Proof of stake had been stuck on the nothing-at-stake and costless-simulation problems, and on the fact that most holders are offline.
What the design proposes
- Sleepy means offline, not Byzantine.
- The adversary cannot grind the leader lottery after seeing the future.
- A node that wakes up can tell which chain is the one honest awake nodes built.
How the mechanism is specified
- Time is divided into slots.
- A slot leader extends the chain it considers heaviest.
- A node that was asleep downloads and applies the same fork-choice rule.
What this page does not treat as proven
- The paper is not Ouroboros and not Casper.
- It does not solve light-client data availability by itself.
- Awake majority is the security assumption. Count it.
Why the desk still reads it
A staking design that punishes everyone who misses a slot has refused this model. Ask what an offline holder must do.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Sleepy
- Honest but offline. Not an attacker.
- Awake majority
- Most of the stake that is online follows the protocol.
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.