Stellar.org introduces the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), a federated Byzantine agreement mechanism designed for decentralized payments. SCP offers four key properties: decentralized control, low latency, flexible trust, and asymptotic security, with a new open-source codebase now available for peer review.
Stellar.org has released its first white paper and new open-source codebase introducing the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), a federated Byzantine agreement construction for worldwide payments. Developed by Chief Scientist Prof. David Mazières, SCP is the first provably safe consensus mechanism combining decentralized control, low latency, flexible trust, and asymptotic security. Unlike traditional Byzantine agreement systems, SCP enables open membership and decentralized quorum determination, allowing each node to choose whom to trust. The new codebase prioritizes safety, minimalism, and interoperability, with live data stored in standard SQL databases and cryptographic data in commodity storage. While not yet live on mainnet, the system is available for testing and peer review, with the team inviting feedback on the white paper.
