The lineage of Ouroboros variants reflects different operational regimes:
- Classic introduced provably-secure PoS with synchronous, semi-trusted setup.
- Praos moved to a private leader election via VRFs, removing the need for committee coordination.
- Genesis added the chain-density rule so a brand-new node can join the network and pick the honest chain without external checkpoints.
- Chronos (research) tightens the protocol's reliance on external time sources.
See Ouroboros for the longer write-up.
Explore next
- SlotEach slot represents an opportunity for a block to be produced by an elected slot leader.View term
- Slot LeaderThe stake pool selected by Ouroboros to produce a block in a given time slot.View term
- VRFA cryptographic function that produces a verifiably random output; Cardano uses it inside Ouroboros as a private per-slot lottery, letting each pool check whether it won the right to produce a block, fairly and unpredictably.View term
- KESKey Evolving Signatures. Block-signing keys that move forward in time to limit the damage of a key compromise.View term
- Stake PoolA server node that participates in the Cardano network by validating transactions and producing blocks.View term
- Proof of StakeA consensus mechanism where validators are selected to create blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they hold and stake (commit) to the network.View term
- Proof-of-Stake AttacksThe set of known attack categories against proof-of-stake blockchains and how Cardano's Ouroboros family defends against each.View term