Two round Commitment

Definition ∞ Two-round commitment is a cryptographic protocol where a party first commits to a value and then later reveals it, ensuring honesty. In the initial “commitment” phase, a party publishes a cryptographically binding hash of their chosen value, without revealing the value itself. In the subsequent “reveal” phase, they disclose the original value and its hash, allowing others to verify consistency. This mechanism prevents participants from changing their minds or cheating after seeing others’ choices, providing fairness in distributed protocols.
Context ∞ Two-round commitment schemes are fundamental building blocks in various cryptographic protocols and decentralized applications, often discussed in technical crypto news related to secure multi-party computation or fair auctions. They are crucial for ensuring verifiability and preventing front-running in systems where participants need to make choices independently but commit to them publicly. The security of these schemes relies on the strength of the underlying cryptographic hash functions.