What Consensus Mechanism Relies Heavily on the Integrity Provided by the Merkle Root?

Proof-of-Work (PoW) is the consensus mechanism that relies heavily on the Merkle Root's integrity. In PoW, miners compete to find a valid block hash, which must include the Merkle Root derived from the block's transactions.

The Merkle Root ensures that the transactions are correctly accounted for before the costly mining process begins. If a miner tries to include an invalid Merkle Root, their resulting block hash will be rejected by the network, upholding the chain's security.