Proof of Work + Staking

Irys introduces a hybrid consensus mechanism combining Proof of Work and Staking (PoW+S). Unlike classic PoW, miners on Irys also make economic commitments to specific mining addresses and make pledges to the portions of the ledger they store.

Miners face slashing penalties for inappropriate behavior, creating strong disincentives for adversarial actions compared to pure PoW networks.

Benefits of the hybrid model:

• Higher Commitment: Staked participants ensure greater reliability.
• Known Participants: Efficient communication between known, staked addresses.
• Scalable and Cost-Effective: Staking deters grinding attacks, enabling scalable and cost-effective data posting.
• Efficient Sampling: Miners prove data with minimal network interactions.