# Ultimate Go Episode 6: Blockchain Consensus Algorithms

DevFeed: [Ultimate Go Episode 6: Blockchain Consensus Algorithms](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/ultimate-go-advanced-engineering-episode-6-22192.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.ardanlabs.com/blog/2022/12/ultimate-go-advanced-engineering-episode-6.html>)

Published: 2022-12-16T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [William Kennedy](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/william-kennedy.md>)

Topics: [Blockchain](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/blockchain.md>), [Algorithms](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/algorithms.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>)

Tags: [algorithms](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/algorithms.md>), [blockchain](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blockchain.md>), [consensus](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/consensus.md>), [consensus-algorithm](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/consensus-algorithm.md>), [distributed](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/distributed.md>), [go-blockchain](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/go-blockchain.md>), [golang-blockchain](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/golang-blockchain.md>), [poa](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/poa.md>), [pos](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pos.md>), [pow](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pow.md>), [proof-of-authority](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/proof-of-authority.md>), [proof-of-work](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/proof-of-work.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>)

## AI overview

This video explains why proof of work can be inefficient as a blockchain grows, focusing on duplicated computation and energy consumption. It introduces proof of stake and proof of authority as alternative consensus algorithms and discusses their role in maintaining valid data in a distributed database.

## Source excerpt

Introduction In the last video, Bill left off talking about proof of work (PoW) algorithms. In a distributed and decentralized environment, PoW used to be the gold standard for a node to participate equitably in a Blockchain. However, with PoW as the number of nodes on the Blockchain increases, the amount of energy waste increases. This is because each node is performing the same computationally heavy calculation and only one node's energy usage is leveraged to write the next block.