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Mance Harmon: Hashgraph – A Radically Novel Consensus Algorithm

Episode Summary

Mance Harmon, CEO of the company behind Hashgraph, joined us to discuss the radically new consensus algorithm and how it compares to existing approaches.

Episode Notes

Hashgraph is a new consensus algorithm that radically differs from proof-of-work as well as proof-of-stake consensus algorithms. While work on Hashgraph begun in 2012, it’s design is radically different from today’s blockchain architectures. The Hashgraph team claims that it has found an optimal consensus algorithm design that will be impossible to significantly improve upon.

We were joined by Mance Harmon, who is CEO of the Swirlds, the company developing Hashgraph. Our conversation covered the origin story of hashgraph, how it compares to existing consensus algorithms and how Hashgraph works.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Leemon Baird and Mance Harmon’s long history of building companies together
• What motivated Leemon Baird to start working on Hashgraph in 2012
• The existing categories of consensus algorithms and their problems
• How Hashgraph consensus combines voting and gossip protocols
• The performance characteristics of Hashgraph
• How a public Hashgraph network could look like

Episode links:

• Hashgraph Homepage
• Hashgraph Whitepaper
• Hashgraph Consensus - Detailed Examples
• Sybil Attacks in Hashgraph
• Hidden Forces Podcast Episode on Hashgraph
• Lemon Baird's Talk on Hashgraph at Harvard Business School

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/219