Block Finalization

This page describe the process of block finalization for the Züs protocol.

After a miner notarizes a block, it attempts to determine which blocks are finalized; after a block is considered finalized, a miner will not accept any alternate blocks to this block or earlier blocks.

The miner begins at the most recently produced block and walks back through the previous block to check for notarizations. If a block has received notarization from more than two-thirds of the mining network, it is marked as final; by extension, so are all previous blocks in that blockchain.

Figure 1 below shows the block notarization and finalization process.

Figure 1 :Block Notarization and Finalization

Each row represents the precedence of blocks, with the top row representing the block produced by the highest priority miner for the round. Each column represents the round number.

Each node represents a single block. Yellow blocks are notarized, but not yet finalized; green blocks have been finalized; and grey blocks have been produced 3 but neither notarized nor finalized. The notation “R57,9,M4” indicates that the block was produced in round 57, that it has 9 notarizations, and that it was produced by miner 4.

The figure shows that in round 61, miner 3’s block failed to get sufficient verification, and the second highest priority block was notarized and finalized in its place. In round 63, the highest priority block producer failed to make a block; therefore, the second highest priority block was again notarized and finalized in its place