Definition
Consensus rules are the requirements that a blockchain participant applies when deciding whether transactions and blocks are valid. Bitcoin's rules cover matters such as spending authorization, prevention of duplicate spends, allowable issuance, proof of work, and block weight. A full node checks these requirements for itself rather than accepting a block merely because many peers announce it. Consensus is distinct from transaction relay policy: a node may decline to forward a transaction that could still be valid if a miner includes it in a block. It is also distinct from a poll of users or a vote by software developers. Participants need compatible validation rules to maintain a shared history. When discussing a proposed change, identifying whether it affects consensus, local policy, or a wallet interface helps explain its deployment requirements and the consequences of disagreement.
Source references
References accompanying this glossary entry:
- https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/validation.cpp
- https://developer.bitcoin.org/devguide/block_chain.html
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