Protocol Liveness

Definition ∞ Protocol liveness is a property of a distributed system that guarantees that honest participants will eventually complete their operations, meaning the system continues to make progress. In a blockchain, this implies that new blocks will always be produced and transactions will eventually be processed, even in the presence of some faulty nodes. It ensures the system does not halt. This property is essential for a functional blockchain.
Context ∞ Maintaining protocol liveness is a primary design goal for all blockchain consensus algorithms, as a system that stops producing blocks becomes unusable. Security analyses often assess a protocol’s resilience against attacks that attempt to disrupt liveness. Recent protocol upgrades frequently include enhancements aimed at strengthening liveness guarantees under various network conditions, improving system reliability.