Consensus protocols

Besu supports the following consensus protocols:

• QBFT (proof of authority) - The recommended enterprise-grade consensus protocol for private networks.
• IBFT 2.0 (proof of authority) - Supported for existing private networks.
• Proof of stake - Used on Ethereum Mainnet and public testnets.
• Ethash (proof of work) - Can be used in small development networks.

Important

Besu no longer supports the Clique consensus protocol.

Learn more about the proof of authority consensus protocols.

The config property in the genesis file specifies the consensus protocol for a chain.

Ethash

{
  "config": {
  ...
    "ethash": {
    ...
    }
  },
  ...
}

IBFT 2.0

{
  "config": {
    ...
    "ibft2": {
      ...
    }
  },
  ...
}

QBFT

{
  "config": {
    ...
    "qbft": {
      ...
    }
  },
  ...
}