Definition ∞ Per Contract Consensus refers to a system design where each smart contract or decentralized application operates with its own independent consensus mechanism, rather than relying on a single, global network consensus. This approach allows for greater flexibility and specialized optimization for individual applications. It can potentially improve scalability by distributing the consensus workload across many smaller, isolated environments. This model deviates from the traditional monolithic blockchain structure.
Context ∞ The discussion around Per Contract Consensus in crypto news often highlights its potential to address the scalability limitations of current blockchain platforms. A key debate involves the security implications and interoperability challenges of having numerous independent consensus domains. Future developments are focused on creating frameworks that allow these contract-specific consensus mechanisms to securely interact and exchange data, aiming to build a highly scalable and modular decentralized ecosystem.