How Do “Checkpointing” Mechanisms Enhance Finality in Some Blockchains?
Checkpointing involves periodically and officially confirming the state of the blockchain at a specific block height. This is often done by a trusted entity or a consensus of a secondary network.
Once a block is checkpointed, it is considered absolutely final and irreversible, even in the event of a chain reorganization attempt. This mechanism provides stronger, more immediate finality than the probabilistic finality of native PoW, making 51% attacks on older, checkpointed blocks impossible.
Glossar
Probabilistic Finality
Certainty ⎊ Probabilistic finality within cryptocurrency and derivatives represents a quantified assessment of settlement irreversibility, diverging from traditional absolute finality models.
Checkpointing
Finality ⎊ Checkpointing is a mechanism in Proof-of-Stake protocols designed to establish transaction finality by creating irreversible points in the blockchain history.
Chain Reorganization
Blockchain Fork Resolution ⎊ The process by which a network resolves a temporary divergence in the transaction history, typically resulting in the abandonment of the shorter chain in favor of the one with greater cumulative proof-of-work.