Consensus

Plasma is secured by PlasmaBFT — an in-house implementation of Fast Hotstuff, a modern and efficient Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) protocol. Fast Hotstuff streamlines consensus by reducing communication rounds, ensuring rapid confirmation of transactions. Written in Rust, PlasmaBFT is optimized for low end-to-end latency — the duration from when a request is sent until a committed response is received. This design meets the dual needs of rapid transaction processing and deterministic finality, delivering the necessary throughput for global payments and ensuring that confirmed transactions are irreversible.

Block Generation and Staking

Blocks on the Plasma network are produced using a Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism. Our approach simplifies staking by eliminating punitive measures like stake slashing, meaning validators do not lose staked tokens for misbehavior. We are also exploring staking without lock-up periods, enabling token holders to withdraw their stake immediately if desired.

Consensus Rollout

The deployment of Plasma’s consensus mechanism will occur in three phases:

• Trusted Validators: At initial mainnet launch, validation starts with a select group of trusted entities. This controlled phase establishes a stable and secure network and allows for further protocol improvements.

• Expansion and Scalability Testing: Next, the validator set will be expanded to rigorously test Plasma’s horizontal scalability and performance under larger committees.

• Full Decentralization: In the final phase, Plasma will transition to a permissionless model where anyone can become a validator, achieving complete decentralization and enhanced network security.