Tendermint
Tendermint is an open source project following a different approach than other blockchain technologies. At its core, Tendermint offers a blockchain consensus engine and peer-to-peer networking capabilities accessible through an Application BlockChain Interface (ABCI). The blockchain itself can thus be written in any programming language and make all “application-level” decisions such as structure and processing of transactions independent of the underlying communication mechanics.
Distinguished authorized nodes take part in the consensus protocol by taking turns proposing the next block and voting on them in a two-step process. The application can propose a currency and denominate each node’s voting power in said currency and thus easily implement a Proof-of-Stake consensus 1 2 3. However, the consensus protocol’s reliance on timeouts make it a “weakly synchronous” one, which other sources describe as unsuited for publicly hosted, distributed applications4 5.
Utilizing Tendermint for the content blockchain project would give us the possibility to decide on and create most features such as smart contracts6 of the implementation but without having to deal with low-level networking and consensus protocols; however, it would of course also require us to do so.
