Consensus protocols
Besu supports the following consensus protocols:
- QBFT (proof of authority) - The recommended enterprise-grade consensus protocol for private networks.
- IBFT 2.0 (proof of authority) - Supported for existing private networks.
- Clique (proof of authority) - Not recommended for production use.
- Proof of stake - Used on Ethereum Mainnet and public testnets.
- Ethash (proof of work) - Can be used in small development networks.
See a comparison of the proof of authority consensus protocols.
The config
property in the genesis file specifies the consensus protocol for a chain.
- Ethash
- Clique
- IBFT 2.0
- QBFT
{
"config": {
...
"ethash": {
...
}
},
...
}
{
"config": {
...
"clique": {
...
}
},
...
}
{
"config": {
...
"ibft2": {
...
}
},
...
}
{
"config": {
...
"qbft": {
...
}
},
...
}