Asynchronous Proof-of-Stake

Abstract

We introduce a new permissionless blockchain architecture called Cascade (Consensusless, Asynchronous, Scalable, Deterministic and Efficient). The protocol is completely asynchronous, and does rely on neither randomness nor proof-of-work. Transactions exhibit finality within one round trip of communication. Cascade is consensusless and only satisfies a relaxed form of consensus by introducing a weaker termination property. Without full consensus, the protocol does not support certain applications, such as general smart contracts. However, many important applications do not require general smart contracts, and Cascade is an advantageous solution for these applications. In particular, the architecture can implement the functionality of a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, replacing Bitcoin’s energy-hungry proof-of-work with a proof-of-stake validation.