<p>BFT? Do you mean OBFT (Ouroboros Byzantine Fault Tolerant)?</p>
<p>OBFT was the consensus mechanism used on the Cardano network towards the end of the Byron era. Block production in the Byron era was not decentralized as all blocks were created by a small set of nodes run by IOHK/IOG.</p>
<p>The Shelley era (which started in 2020) dropped OBFT in favor of a fully decentralized Oroborous concensus mechanism.</p>
<p>While OBFT is no longer used by the Cardano network, OBFT may be useful for private permissioned blockchains.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-31T05:19:28.953Z
2022-10-31T05:19:28.953Z
Erik de Castro Lopo
<p>I searched in Cardano docs but couldn't find much related to the BFT node and how it works. And how it is used in consensus. Why is it needed? Any insights would be great. Thanks.</p>

<cardano-node><stake-pool>
What is the use of BFT node in cardano blockchain?
# What is the use of BFT node in cardano blockchain?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-10-31)

I searched in Cardano docs but couldn't find much related to the BFT node and how it works. And how it is used in consensus. Why is it needed? Any insights would be great. Thanks.

**Tags:** cardano-node, stake-pool

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-10-31. Score: 2

BFT? Do you mean OBFT (Ouroboros Byzantine Fault Tolerant)?

OBFT was the consensus mechanism used on the Cardano network towards the end of the Byron era. Block production in the Byron era was not decentralized as all blocks were created by a small set of nodes run by IOHK/IOG.

The Shelley era (which started in 2020) dropped OBFT in favor of a fully decentralized Oroborous concensus mechanism.

While OBFT is no longer used by the Cardano network, OBFT may be useful for private permissioned blockchains.


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