How does Flow work?

Flow uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, which was derived from HotStuff developed by the researchers at Cornell University.

Compared to other blockchain networks that use PoS, the nodes or the participants of the network have to download all the information to work on the blockchain, on the other hand, Flow's nodes can choose their roles by themselves from the 4 following roles. Each role is related to the number of staked tokens and the user’s hardware efficiency.

1. Collection — The people who gather and check the correctness of the transactions before sending them to another role (must stake at least 250,000 FLOW to earn this role).

2. Consensus — The people who create blocks on the Flow blockchain and check the correctness of the gathered information (must stake at least 500,000 FLOW to earn this role).

3. Execution — The people who verify the transaction and store the data. By verifying the transactions, they need to calculate the output of each block to guarantee that the data received is correct (has to stake at least 1,250,000 FLOW to earn this role).

4. Verification — This role will ensure that the data received from the execution level is correct by examining the recorded data and certifying the correctness.

Other than the roles mentioned above, there are Access nodes, which are responsible for sending the transaction lists to nodes in other roles according to their roles and responsibilities. This type of user will be chosen by background checking and reliability, not by the amount of staked coins.