- Blockchain is the technology that allows cryptocurrency to exist. It is a ledger that records or stores information after verifying it.
- Coins or tokens are cryptocurrencies that can be earned via crypto mining or bought from various centralized or decentralized crypto exchanges.
- Crypto mining is a long, tedious, and often unregulated process. Therefore, it may not be beneficial for all cryptocurrency users.
Blockchains are blocks of information chained or linked together one after the other. When a new block is added, it is always affected by the previous block, as the program has to compare new information and verify that it backtracks with the information present in the previous block.
The new block contains a footprint of the previous block in the form of encrypted data. Previous blocks cannot be changed or interfered with but are always present as a point of reference and a source of evidence of information recorded in the past.
Why are Validators Required?
Security concerns are always a cause of fear and paranoia in the minds of investors, shareholders, and crypto enthusiasts. This is why watchdogs and moderators exist in various online and offline systems.
To keep blockchains secure and increase trustworthiness among people who invest in crypto, there is a need for validators in blockchain. Validators help check the information in the blockchain and add new blocks after validating the previous block and verifying the new block.
In the crypto world, mining is the fastest way to earn tokens and other rewards. Miners use great amounts of computational power to decrypt the previous block’s hash; when they can successfully do so, they usually receive a unit of the crypto as a reward.
Mining consumes a lot of energy and requires a huge resource pool to be profitable. Validators, on the other hand, run a software code to match and verify the data. Validators engage in the same activity as miners except for the method used to get the result, which is different.
How do Validators Work in PoS ( Proof-of-Stake ) Blockchains?
Validators do not use expensive hardware and instead run software that does not require heavy computational power. Instead, validators are selected depending on the number of coins they possess and have staked. The chances are increased for the participant with more coins or tokens at stake.
This way, a chance to verify a block and earn even better rewards is provided to the selected participant. Since the verification process is random and in the hands of community members, it creates a more secure environment for the participants.
Crypto mining has a huge risk of abuse as miners can accumulate huge resources through contributions and drastically increase the pace at which coins can be mined.
This makes the mining of coins extremely unregulated. Still, in the proof-of-stake mechanism, rewards are regulated, and honest participants who put their coins at stake as collateral are appreciated. This results in a secure and fair environment for all participants involved.
Blockchain validators verify the data in the blockchain but do so without the need for heavy and expensive hardware, and also benefit the environment as less energy is consumed. The community’s sense of trustworthiness and security increases as control is in their hands.
