Consensus Liveness

Definition ∞ Consensus liveness means that a distributed system continuously makes progress and processes new transactions, even in the presence of failures. It guarantees that valid, non-faulty nodes will eventually agree on a new state and commit new operations. This property ensures that the network does not halt or become unresponsive, allowing operations to continue indefinitely.
Context ∞ News about blockchain protocols frequently discusses consensus liveness, particularly concerning network upgrades or incidents that test a system’s resilience. Protocols strive to maintain high liveness guarantees, ensuring that transactions are confirmed and the chain extends without undue delay. Debates often surround trade-offs between liveness and safety in different consensus algorithms.