The Quest for Consensus

Human beings are often defined by their ingenuity.

The ways we work, communicate, interact with one another, explore new concepts and find solve problems, all are influenced by our ability to invent, our imagination. Behind every great achievement you will find people, not technology alone (yet) — people and their will to improve.

Blockchain is lauded for its ingenuity its promise to impact just about every aspect of our lives. For all the potential it possesses, however, a decade on from its inception it is yet to have a tangible effect on the world. This revolutionary technology is at an intersection as communities worldwide explore new solutions and ingenious ways of achieving what it’s been all about from day one - consensus.

Consensus is key

Consensus protocols are fundamental components of any decentralized Distributed Ledger Technology network. They are a system of checks and limitations, algorithms designed to ensure that there is only one version of the truth, and that no one person is able to derail the system.

In simpler terms, consensus means to agree to something. The reason it is such a big deal in the blockchain world is that for the first time in history, we’re achieving consensus without the need to trust one another. We’re creating systems that bypass the need to trust because of their immutable, verifiable, transparent nature.

In creating Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto solved the double-spending problem when he put together a few distinct but mightily powerful technologies, the most relevant of which to the achievement of consensus being the Proof of Work (PoW) function — a protocol for achieving consensus between devices on a distributed, decentralized network.

Although PoW is now a widely used algorithm, it’s just one way of reaching consensus. There are several other protocols that help accomplish this, including Proof of Stake (PoS), Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) and Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (DBFT), to name a few.

From Bitcoin emerged a number of exciting new cryptocurrency and blockchain projects, many of which hold the promise to revolutionise the DLT space and bring DLT to the real world. EOS is one such project.

EOS.io

If you're reading this, chances are you’re aware of EOS and its remarkable potential. EOS is a competitor to Ethereum, designed to solve the two most pertinent problems with existing blockchain systems, scalability and transaction fees, amongst several others.

EOS is making the barrier to entry for developing decentralized applications (DApps) so low that it’s impossible to ignore. They’re proposing making transactions and interactions with DApps free and astonishingly scalable, making EOS possibly the crypto-sphere’s strongest bet in taking DLT mainstream.

The EOS testnet has demonstrated this successfully, and the EOS mainnet release in the beginning of June should be further proof. Proof that EOS is a platform that has all it takes to become the go-to blockchain system of the future. A public blockchain system that allows programmers and developers to build highly advanced applications and blockchain businesses with ease.

The blockchain space has been waiting for a user-friendly decentralized platform that is highly scalable and can host industrial-scale applications for a while now. EOS is proposing to do all this by eliminating transaction fees and making it possible to conduct millions of transactions per second -and the world is starting to take notice.

Enter Advanced Blockchain AG

Advanced Blockchain AG is a publicly listed German company focused on the design, development and deployment of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) solutions for companies and their products and services. Our team have been in and around the DLT space since the turn on the decade.

We’ve witnessed and actively participated in the growth of the DLT industry from bitcoin’s early days, through the beginnings of Ethereum and Crypto 2.0, past the more recent tipping point. We understand the technology’s potential for wide-spread positive change. With this in mind, our goal is to bring the immense power of DLT to the real world, into our industries, markets, organizations and daily lives.

DLT has been around for a decade and although it has evolved a lot over recent years, it is yet to truly impact the real world. There have been a few stumbling blocks in the way of real world implementation, as can be expected from a technology with the promise to disrupt the world’s longest standing industries and fundamentally change the way we interact.

People all over the globe are working around the clock to bypass these obstacles and Advanced Blockchain AG make it a priority to seek out projects with the potential to overcome these barriers and help give them the best possible chance of success.

This is why we’ve announced our candidacy for the role of EOS Block Producer as EOS network by Advanced Blockchain AG. We’re pleased to be joining communities from all corners of the world working to maximise EOS’s potential of bringing DLT to the real world.

Here's a link to our official application: https://steemit.com/eos/@ad-blockchain-ag/eos-network-by-advanced-blockchain-ag-announcing-our-eos-block-producer-candidacy

Our application outlines our proposal from a technical, governmental and community perspective. It also introduces our team and our reasons for taking on the project. We strongly believe that genuine engagement and discussion with the community is necessary for the success of any block producer and the general satisfaction of all involved.

We’ll subsequently be offering our expertise in any way, shape or form required. We'll also always be open to connect with individuals and organizations who share the desire for bringing DLT to the real world.

Fully understanding the responsibilities as an EOS Block Producer, we plan on doing everything we can for the betterment of the ecosystem — including votes on all major issues, periodic public updates regarding progress and a pledge to never engage in misleading practices.

We’ll be transparent in all we do in the hope that this collective effort will result in better transparency on a global level.

More information is available on our EOS network website: https://www.eosnetwork.io/

This article forms part of a series aimed at educating people on the evolution of consensus mechanisms, the origins of DPOS and the EOS Block Producer race, and Advanced Blockchain's plans and proposal as a Block Producer candidate.

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