Federation
Also · Functionaries · Federated · Guardians
A federation is a known group of parties who jointly hold funds or sign blocks under a threshold rule such as 11 of 15. It replaces proof of work or a single operator with a quorum.
Where Bitcoin has thousands of anonymous miners, a federation has a short list of named members, each holding a key. Nothing happens unless a threshold of them signs. Liquid’s functionaries sign blocks and guard the peg at 11 of 15. A Fedimint is run by a federation of guardians who hold the mint’s bitcoin. Spark’s operators share signing with each user.
The model gives fast, predictable settlement and tolerates a few members going offline or rogue. It does not remove trust, it spreads it. Members can be pressured, compromised or collude, and users of a federated system are its creditors rather than its owners. Mutually distrusting members, hardware security modules and public identities are the usual mitigations.
In French · Fédération
