In order for any decentralized blockchain, such as Lisk, to be secure, its participants must agree to the same set rules. Those rules are governed by a consensus mechanism. While there are many types of consensus mechanisms, Lisk utilizes Proof of Stake (PoS).

As with other consensus algorithms, the goal of PoS is to secure a blockchain. Unlike Proof of Work (PoW), it is energy efficient and environmentally friendly. It also has additional security considerations and tradeoffs.

Lisk's PoS utilizes advantageous voting and delegation mechanisms to make it more democratic in nature when compared to others. This also results in higher scalability as transactions can be verified and processed much faster.

Voting is the core component for determining which delegates secure the network. For a much more in depth explanation of how these votes are calculated, and how users may vote for delegates themselves, see the Lisk Voting Process blog post.

Block rewards were introduced for active delegates securing the network shortly after the Lisk Mainnet launch in 2016. While the rewards started at 5 LSK tokens per block, they were gradually reduced by 1 LSK token at a time. These block rewards are now 1 LSK token per block, which is where they will stay forever.

101 active delegates secure the Lisk Network by processing blocks and transactions. These 101 active delegates are the top 101 of all Lisk delegates, sorted by vote weight. Each active delegate will have a turn forging a new block before the process starts all over again.

In addition, stand-by delegates, ones that are outside of the top 101 by vote weight, also have an opportunity to forge blocks. During each block round, 2 delegates are randomly selected to forge a block as well. Delegates have a greater chance of being selected with more vote weight.

For more information on Lisks DPoS consensus, read our Delegated Proof of Stake Consensus for LSK Token blog post.