I like to think of Delegated Proof of Stake as technological democracy.
Just think about how many asshole bosses there are out in the world. Have you ever wanted a system in which you, the employee, get to fire your own incompetent boss? Well, there is a new system that is very close to the reality of employees getting to fire their own managers. It’s called Delegated Proof of Stake.
If you’ve spent any time in the Bitcoin rabbit hole, you’ve probably come across the terms Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, Proof of Importance or other consensus algorithms. But guess what, I’m not going to use words like algorithm or consensus in this article. I’m going to attempt to explain what Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) is in such a way that anyone, even a 5 year-old could understand it.
Why Was Delegated Proof of Stake Invented?
A blockchain engineer named Daniel Larimer realized that Bitcoin mining was too wasteful of energy. He also recognized that Bitcoin mining would become centralized in the future, with giant mining pools being in control of the Bitcoin network. Additionally, he wanted to build a system that was capable of transaction speeds like 100,000 per second. Bitcoin’s system was too slow due to the way it was designed and the system it used: Proof of Work. He decided to invent and build a new system that used very little energy, was lightning fast and also very secure. Dan named this new system, Delegated Proof of Stake, or DPOS.
What are the ingredients for DPOS?
A cryptocurrency, a blockchain, community of people, computers and rules.
People in a particular cryptocurrency community vote for Witnesses to secure their computer network.
The top 20 Witnesses are paid a consistent amount for their service and the backup Witnesses are paid on a more random manner. A Witness at spot #58 is paid roughly $300 per month. Because many want to become a Witness, there are hundreds of backup Witnesses. The top 100 Witnesses are paid.
People’s vote strength is determined by how many tokens they hold. This means that people who have more tokens will influence the network more than people who have very few tokens.
As the community grows, it gets harder and harder to remain a paid Witness due to increased competition.
If a Witness starts acting like an asshole, or stops doing a quality job securing the network, people in the community can remove their votes, essentially firing the bad actor. Voting is always ongoing.
This system works because it is able to flush out bad actors and at the same time recognize new valuable members. The system is dependent upon active voters in the community, so educating new members about how the system works is essential to the well-being of the system. I’ve been in the Steem community for over a year and I’ve seen Witnesses come and go based on their actions and reputation.
The links below contain more in-depth descriptions of Delegated Proof of Stake for those of you who want to understand it on a deeper level.
Current cryptocurrency projects that use Delegated Proof of Stake:
BitShares: https://bitshares.org/
Steem: https://steem.io/
EOS: https://eos.io/
Lisk: https://lisk.io/
Ark: https://ark.io/
A video that explains DPOS:
Further reading and sources:
Dan Larimer invented DPOS in 2014: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=558316.0
DPOS vs. POW by Dan Larimer: http://bytemaster.github.io/bitshares/2015/01/04/Delegated-Proof-of-Stake-vs-Proof-of-Work/
DPOS updated white paper by Dan Larimer: https://steemit.com/dpos/@dantheman/dpos-consensus-algorithm-this-missing-white-paper
BitShares: http://docs.bitshares.org/bitshares/dpos.html
The Merkle: https://themerkle.com/what-is-delegated-proof-of-stake/
Facts about Daniel Larimer, the inventor of Delegated Proof of Stake: https://steemit.com/eosio/@xeroc/historical-facts-about-daniel-larimer-and-his-contributions-to-the-blockchain-industry
Overview of different consensus algorithms: https://blog.wavesplatform.com/review-of-blockchain-consensus-mechanisms-f575afae38f2
Vote For Your Witnesses,
Stellabelle
[all graphics made by Stellabelle using the free tool, Piktochart. Boy's face was created by cartoonfaces.net]
Great post..thanks for taking the time to explain. What do you think about when people delegate their voting power to someone else? I have not done that but am thinking about it. Thanks for your input @stellabelle
So glad you are here in Steemit ❤️ Resteemed
This post deserves a tip! 1.00
thanks for the tip! Hmmmm.....I think maybe some people don't want to do the research to determine who to vote for.....so are you talking about setting a proxy? I think delegating voting power to someone else is a good thing. Not everyone likes to vote daily, and if the voting power is not delegated, then it's wasted.
thanks .. I appreciate the input.
Yes, thank you so much, @stellabelle, I finally get it! After watching heaps of videos elsewhere and documents, I finally get it! :)
Thanks for the beginners course on DPOS, but I still have some questions. How does one become a witness? How does one vote for a witness? Do witnesses run full nodes? Where is the STEEM blockchain hosted? How big is the STEEM blockchain currently, and how many full nodes do we have? I have been wondering these things for awhile.
wow, I'll have to write an article about each of your questions...here goes
Thank You for your reply! I will look into becoming a witness and setting up a node. I should probably go and read the updated whitepaper as well.
I have a question @stellabelle
What is AWS?
The top 100 witnesses are paid.
Thanks. I will edit this.
This isn't true. Backup witness do make some money as well. At position 58 I make around 300$ a month.
ok, thanks for that. I'll edit it.
Do you know how many full nodes are currently running? Also, someone asked how big the Steem blockchain currently is...
Not sure on the full nodes, but I believe the blockchain is about 32 gigs currently.
Thanks for the lesson and education regarding the witnesses and DPOS. Many are new to this platform as well as with the crypto alt tokens and there is a lot to learn.
Lol, i cant stop laughing , lovely post stella
I love to use the word, 'asshole', mainly because I can. I was going to spell it, a&&hole, but then i just said, 'fuck it'.
I just raised the PG to 13 :)
Lol!!!
hahaha. this is rib cracking.
Thanks for sharing keep it up
your post is great, you should get a lot of rewards, thank you for sharing, do not forget my vote 100% yes, let's help fellow
This makes it more of democracy, where the people votes matter a lot
Nice post, thanks!!!
This is the kind of info we need out - a big reason for any perceived slow uptake is due to ignorance of this technology. Very far ahead of it's time!
yeah, and it has taken me a lot of time and reading to properly understand it.....pictures help, and the more people who can make easy to read tutorials, the more will see how good of a system it is.
Excellent information!
No really--- thank you for presenting this so simply. To be honest, it clarified things for me to the point that I now think I could explain this to somebody. Maybe not a five year old. But then again maybe!
Thanks @stellabelle. :)
brilliantly done. loved that. i one day will build a server and it will be a witness! :) #witnessthefitness ;)
You keep saying 20 witnesses, but does that mean the paid witnesses list doesn't eventually grow when the userbase becomes larger?
I am not sure, but I think the 20 could get larger if the network needed it...you'd have to ask a witness for clarification.
You're too kind, I'm afraid. Firing incompetent bosses would be the least painful solution that crossed my mind on many meetings...I can't tell you about the other solutions I came up with (mostly illegal or at least frowned upon).
As for the witnesses, I guess it's the job of those that understand all the technical stuff to point out who's not doing their job, so the other simple users can act accordingly and unvote them.
Actually, you can easily keep an eye on how your witnesses are doing on Witstats. Just enter your user name.
https://witstats.steemliberator.com/index
not familiar with this tool...is it on Steemtools?
Yes it is!
Nice way to explain it!
Nice explanation. The witness program hasn't been crystal clear and this cleared it up a bit for me...and my 5 year old reading comprehension 😀
Hi @stellabelle! @rebeccabe is sending you 1.0 SBD tip and @tipU upvote
:)
@tipU - send tips by writing tip! in the comment, get share of the profit :)Thank you for the excellent information.
Simple and straightforward explanation. Zero fluff. Bookmarked. Thanks
Nice. Thank you for finding a way to make this easy to learn about. I know a lot of people this will help as much as it helped me.
As a minnow who has been on steemit less than a month at this point, I also found it helpful for me to have had the added benefit to meet with dolphins like @lpfaust and @broncnutz at our Colorado Springs Meetup. I was able to learn about their experiences with different people on that witness list to see who does what and learn how different people are earning their money.
I was fascinated to see how many have "double dipping" opportunities already.
The insights I was provided helped me assess who was a worthy vote which I have taken seriously and politically. So far 16 votes deeply considered and cast.
Good lucid explanation. And yes, there have been plenty of bosses I've wanted a bit of upward reporting on.
thanks
This was an enjoyable read--I miss being 5yr.
The way this system works is quite complicated but effective for making a digital currency run without much wasting energy, being fast, and with a lot of options for people to earn.
"Voting is always going on", that's a great point... there is no waiting 3 months to right a ship that is of course, there is immediate repercussion and realignment! Peace / Great post
I am happy for the witnesses we have that are doing great work , I hope to be one of them one day to lead my fellow Steem community , I hope no one is abusing their power or working against our trust . It would be nice if they delegate a little power of theirs maybe every week to new people to help in the community
Always trying out new things, more of this from where it came from, awesome post so much depth!
Thank you. Before I saw you on Steemit, I only just came to drop my thoughts on articles that come to mind. But since I started reading your posts, I have come into a deeper understanding of how steemit works and I realise that it is not just a social media platform. It could also provide avenue for real work that touches lives.
I am still learning and I'm exceedingly grateful to all the people that have made my learning experience as rewarding as it has been. Thank you for DPOS.
Yes, that's nice, actually Bitcoin is prototype of blockchain model. So I hope many people aware to improve it also to give more people the chance how to mining without need a lot of energy consum
Very well explained!
I'll call it DPOS 101. An ideal course for every soul here. Simple and ingenious.
Obviously increasing the amount of token is synonymous to increasing ones shares(stake) on the platform.
While all this is good, this system still faces the one problem that almost every type of democracy faces - people don't take their duty to vote seriously. Even on steemit, less than 10% of all accounts vote for witnesses. I think something needs to be done to incentivise people to vote for witnesses.
that's why I wrote this post. Many people don't even know what the word, 'witness' means. It's a new system, completely new, so very few people understand it. I'll be doing more posts about this, to first educate, raise awareness of how this all works.....good observation...
Thank you, you can now ignore my other comment. understanding witness stuff is forthcoming, thanks.
I think it bears explaining why most users should delegate their block authoring responsibility to anyone else? In standard POS I control it myself, so why give that control to another?
How do we spot bad actors before it's too late, how do we get the message out that a witness acted badly, and why should anyone believe such a message?
Good questions. Dan or someone more knowledgable would have to answer that. The reality is that most people don't want the responsibility of maininting the network. If you feel strongly about maintaining the network, then you could be one who sets up a witness. The reason I think the delegation part exists is that it reflects social reality: not everyone wants to secure the network.....
As far as bad actors, they out themselves and if you were to look through the history of Witnesses, you would see that many have shifted position, out of the top 20. People show their true colors, eventually, just like in any social group......this platform with its reputation system actually makes this possible to find out one's true nature and integrity. Look at the example of @timcliff, who came into Steem with nothing. He was not one of the early adopters, and didn't have a Witness position. Through his hard work and labor, constantly improving Steem, and the network, ironing out problems, his work began to be noticed. He's now a top Witness. He is an example of a merit-based economy.....and he continues to positively influence this ecosystem.
Thanks @stellabelle :)
You may also be interested in reading this post about 'bad actors' if you haven't seen it already:
https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/response-to-cosmos-white-paper-s-claims-on-dpos-security
Here is a good post that touches on bad actors:
https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/response-to-cosmos-white-paper-s-claims-on-dpos-security
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I think the DPOS thing is a huge innovation and a giant leap for mankind. Indeed it's like flipping the universe to the other side.
In my opinion this system decentralises crytocurrency and would make the market highly valuable information the future. Since a couple of people are striving to keep it in excellent shape so that they can remain in good books.
@stellabelle this information is invaluable. Thanks for the post
@stellabelle - DPOS really forms the fundamental on which platforms like Steemit are based. Though I had read the basics and understood the concept before, I was happy to reaffirm my understanding through your post! Not sure if a 5 year old would understand it but most of us would. LOL.
Thanks. Upvoted
Regards,
@vm2904
Hi! I'm happy to choose this post for my "Care To Read "Crossword Puzzle Contest No. 4. I'm posting a link to this post in all my posts related to this contest. I hope it will send some more traffic to your post so that more people become aware of this important subject.
Thank you for writing awesome content!
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for the upvdates.
@stellabelle you are working as a witness?
I am considering it. Right now, I'm doing the research, as I like to be thorough in any endeavor I undertake.
Yeah you should be, will love to see you as a witness, I can gather too some witnesses for you :P
part of my learning right now involves security, which is pretty new to me....it's taking a while to get a good understanding of how do it properly.
Yeah indeed, you need some good hands on knowledge to start
Learning all these technical terms can be daunting and often an exercise in futility. Thank you for helping a girl out. Now I know that I can kick some boss's ass. I will need further details on how to identify those whose ass I should kick and the ones to give a pat on the back. Where I'm from we say "Ndewo" and that's thanks. BTW, I just joined. I hear there can't be lies here. I suppose that also mean that it is a forgiving place. So forgive me if I have erred on my first day😁
please do kick some horrible boss' ass......
I have some stories about dem bad bosess.....
Please show me and I will do the needful. Don't look at my size!!!
Thank you so much for all you do to educate us (me). I have enjoyed your teaching. Each time another piece in the chain of knowledge connects after I consider your explanations.
Don't forget about Bitcoin Movie night on Oct. 6 at Franny's Training Center....
Great job! DPoS is one of the things that was a struggle for me to understand as well as explain.
feel free to use these to help explain it.....
Interesting!!
this helped explain a lot of my questions thanks I never knew the witnesses get paid that's cool.
Delegated Proof of Stake! I like the terminologies in crytocurrencies. So it basically means that we are collectively responsible for what happens in steemit, right? If we collectively don't like anything, we can change it, right? I can't wait to buy more steem power! Thank you for the education.
Wow, vivid explanation, thank God I join steemit.com.
I get to learn new things and Moreno earn.
Grateful for this great opportunity.
Pls how do I vote you as witness
It helps explain a bit about the DPOS, still a bit confusing though. One thing I have not really been able to find good solid information on is the "Witness" stuff. I know I get to vote for 30, (and now I guess I can unvote whenever I want), but I still really do not understand what it is they do. I have looked at some of their statistic reports that some o them do, but it is like a foreign language.
Is there a simple explanation of what they are, why we need them, and how do we figure out who to vote for? I am really getting annoyed with the money side, but since I seem to be making some I need to sort this out I guess.
easy explanation for dpos algorithm; well read; thanks for sharing your thought...