Blockchain Finality Patterns

Understanding how different blockchain architectures achieve transaction finality.

Types of Finality

Probabilistic Finality

• Bitcoin, Ethereum PoW
• Confidence increases with block depth
• Never truly "final" but practically irreversible

Deterministic Finality

• BFT-based systems (Tendermint, PBFT)
• Finality achieved in single block
• Trade-off: requires known validator set

Economic Finality

• Ethereum PoS (Casper)
• Finality backed by slashing conditions
• Combines probabilistic and deterministic approaches

Practical Implications

For enterprise blockchain:

• Deterministic finality preferred for settlement
• Requires careful validator selection
• Network partition handling is critical

The choice of finality mechanism fundamentally shapes the system's trust model.