Glossary
Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)
A consensus mechanism in which token holders vote to elect a small, rotating set of delegates who produce and validate blocks on their behalf, prioritizing throughput over open validation.
In delegated proof of stake, ordinary token holders do not validate blocks themselves. Instead they use their stake as voting weight to elect a fixed, small number of delegates — often called witnesses or block producers — who take turns producing and confirming blocks. The more votes a delegate receives, the more likely they are to hold a slot, and rewards earned are typically shared back with their voters.
Because only a handful of elected producers operate at once, DPoS chains achieve high throughput and fast finality with low coordination overhead. The trade-off is reduced decentralization: power concentrates among the top delegates, and voter apathy or vote-buying can entrench an elite set. Networks such as EOS, TRON, and early Steem popularized the model, and delegates can usually be voted out if they misbehave or go offline.