Consensus Mechanism

On cryptocurrency blockchains, the consensus mechanism is the process and methods used by the nodes to validate and authenticate transactions submitted to the network in a decentralized fashion that does not rely on a single centralized authority. The two most popular Consensus Mechanisms in use today are Proof of Stake(PoS)and Proof of Work(PoW). Ultimately the consensus mechanism determines which transactions are included in the block and which blocks are included in the blockchain.