• VeChain has upgraded to the first phase of its PoA 2.0 SURFACE consensus mechanism to improve security and sustainability, among other benefits.
• The network has also selected a second steering committee for efficient decision-making and fair implementation.

Supply chain tracking blockchain VeChain (VET) has now marked a significant milestone in its six-year history. The first phase of its Proof-of-Authority (PoA) 2.0 SURFACE consensus mechanism has now been launched on the VeChainThor mainnet, according to a Tuesday announcement. The network touts the upgrade as the “world’s greenest” block verification method to ever exist. POA 2.0 improves the security, scalability, and throughput of the VeChainThor Mainnet.

VeChain is an enterprise blockchain that finds value in synchronizing physical tracking with blockchain record keeping. Its PoA algorithm achieves consensus by verifying users’ identities. PoA differs from Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in that the former requires mining and the latter requires staking of coins on a network. PoA is also less energy-intensive with a low carbon footprint.

Additionally, VeChain stands out from other networks due to the few (101) Authority Masternodes it has. In comparison, Bitcoin has 13,244 nodes, while Ethereum has 2,701 nodes. Fewer nodes promote the speed and reliability of the network but reduce its measure of decentralization. Such features make the blockchain favored in commercial and industrial use-cases.

VeChain 2.0 features

According to Dr. Peter Zhou, Chief Scientist at VeChain, PoA 2.0 is the next iteration of the PoA consensus algorithm. Zhou’s whitepaper reads;

The new consensus algorithm PoA 2.0-SURFACE is characterized as a Secure, Use-case adaptive, and Relatively Fork-free Approach of Chain Extension,

Additionally, SURFACE is necessary “to meet the demands of future blockchain applications.”

PoA 2.0 blends the Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) and Nakamoto Consensus types to “eliminate the weakness of each,” the VeChain team says. BFT allows distributed networks to agree and execute based on majority say. The Nakamoto Consensus verifies the authenticity of a blockchain network. In this sense, the latter eliminates malicious actors in the former by randomizing validator selection – a ‘holy grail” for VeChain.

VeChain 2.0, which was to be launched by the end of October, features three major components, according to the announcement. The first is a Verifiable Random Function (VRF) which securely and randomly assigns nodes to produce blocks. VRF makes transaction processing immune to corruption.

The second is a committee-endorsed block-producing process which considerably reduces the possibility of network forking. Forking could cause delays and reduce network throughput.

Last but not least, is a passive block finality confirmation process. It finalizes new blocks even when all network nodes are unsynchronized.

Further developments

Various exchanges, including Binance and Crypto.com, supported this network upgrade. Our data at press time showed that VET traded at $0.13, down 7.5 percent in the day.

An additional announcement made on Tuesday was the election of the second steering committee (SC). The team will “facilitate the efficiency of decision-making and ensure the fairness and effectiveness of execution for all fundamental matters.” Phase 2 and 3 of the VeChain PoA are yet to be rolled out.