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Consensus Latency

Definition

Consensus Latency refers to the time delay inherent in a distributed network reaching an agreement on the state of a ledger or the validity of transactions. This metric is critical for the performance of blockchain systems, as higher latency can impede transaction throughput and finality. Different consensus mechanisms exhibit varying degrees of latency, influencing the scalability and responsiveness of the network. Minimizing this delay is a key engineering challenge.