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Proof of Stake

A consensus mechanism where validators lock up the network's asset as a bond and are chosen to propose blocks in proportion to their stake.

FBFenwei BianAuthorVZVictor ZhouEditorJuly 2, 2026
  • glossary

Proof of Stake (PoS) is a consensus mechanism in which validators lock up — stake — the network's native asset as an economic bond, and the protocol pseudo-randomly selects a validator to propose each new block, with other validators attesting to its validity. Dishonest behavior, such as proposing conflicting blocks, is punished by slashing, where the protocol destroys part of the offending validator's stake, giving validators a direct financial reason to follow the rules. Because no computational race is involved, PoS uses dramatically less energy than Proof of Work — Ethereum's 2022 switch to PoS, known as The Merge, cut its annualized electricity consumption by more than 99.988%. Ethereum, Cardano, and Polkadot are among the major chains securing their blockchain with PoS today, and PoS's lower transaction costs make it the more common foundation for minting and transferring on-chain assets, including tokenized domains.

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Contributors

Fenwei Bian

Software Developer & Writer • Namefi
Author

Fenwei Bian is a software developer in her thirties who spends her working hours in pull requests and her weekends with her hands in soil or sawdust. Years of open source on GitHub taught her that names are interfaces: a good one is clear, honest about what it does, and kind to whoever has to use it next.

She gardens because it rewards patience and punishes wishful thinking, and she does woodwork because a joint either fits or it doesn't. Both habits show up in how she writes about naming — measure twice, check the source, and don't sand over a rough spot and hope no one notices.

For Namefi she writes about how domain markets actually move, the practical trade-offs of tokenizing and flipping names, and picking a domain you'll still be glad you own in twenty years.

GitHub

Victor Zhou

Founder & Standards Editor • Namefi
Editor

Victor Zhou is a technology founder and standards editor focused on digital identity and trust. He founded Namefi, edits Ethereum Improvement Proposals, and previously led smart-contract architecture work at Google Labs.

His work sits at the intersection of naming, ownership, and the systems people use to establish identity online. That perspective makes him especially interested in the way names move between personal meaning, public recognition, and digital infrastructure.

For Namefi, Victor edits and writes about domains as durable digital identity: how names become ownable onchain assets, how tokenization changes custody and trust, and what naming can learn from the systems people use to establish identity online.

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