Scalability & Finality
Our focus is on minimizing forking, securing the network, and achieving rapid finality.
Ensuring Finality: In the Rails Network, the PoWbA consensus and validator architecture are meticulously designed to ensure quick finality and minimize the existence of multiple chains. Even in a scenario where all validators are thoroughly vetted and honest, different validators may create different blocks, leading to multiple parallel chains. However, the longest chain eventually becomes the accepted chain, and transactions on the shorter chain are rejected. This process guarantees finality and ensures the immutability of confirmed transactions.
Probabilistic Finality and Efficiency: While blockchain transactions are generally perceived as immutable, achieving finality is probabilistic. Traditionally, waiting for a significant number of confirmations has been recommended, such as waiting for at least 6 confirmations on Bitcoin (averaging 60 minutes) or 20-25 confirmations on Ethereum (averaging 6 minutes). However, in the Rails Network, with its estimated average block time of 3-5 seconds and the consensus architecture, finality can be achieved in under a minute. A waiting period of 20-30 seconds is typically sufficient for most applications, reducing hurdles for businesses and ensuring efficient transaction confirmation.
Mitigating Attacks and Enhancing Security: The PoWbA design of the Rails Network effectively mitigates two common attacks that can impact PoW finality: selfish mining and the 51% attack. By validating and trusting all miners (mining pools), the network ensures a high level of security and reduces the risks associated with these attacks. This design choice enhances the overall integrity and reliability of the network.
Distribution of Block Fees: In PoWbA, there is minimal concern about miners colluding to increase the base fee through spamming transactions. As a result, the Rails Network adopts a different approach compared to other networks. Rather than only burning block fees, the block fees are also distributed along with the block rewards. This distribution mechanism promotes a fair and balanced reward system within the network.
Last modified 2mo ago