Ouroboros is a family of proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocols used in blockchain technology. It was designed to be secure, scalable, and energy-efficient. Ouroboros is notable for being the first PoS protocol to be mathematically proven secure and for being the consensus algorithm behind the Cardano blockchain. Key features of Ouroboros include:
Proof-of-Stake: Unlike proof-of-work (PoW) systems, Ouroboros relies on stakeholders to validate transactions and create new blocks, which significantly reduces energy consumption.
Security: Ouroboros has been rigorously analyzed and proven secure under certain cryptographic assumptions.
Scalability: The protocol is designed to support a large number of transactions per second, making it suitable for large-scale applications.
Incentives: It includes mechanisms to incentivize honest behavior among participants, ensuring the network remains secure and efficient. Ouroboros operates in epochs, which are divided into slots. In each slot, a slot leader is elected to add a block to the blockchain. The election process is based on the stake each participant holds, with higher stakes increasing the probability of being selected as a slot leader.
The ouroboros crate contains the generic traits related to any Ouroboros consensus protocol. The sub-libraries contain the specific implementations of Ouroboros, such as Ouroboros TPraos, Ouroboros Praos, and Ouroboros Genesis.