@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ seconds to finalize the transaction.
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75- ## The Evolution of Finality: Before and After Milestones
75+ ## The Evolution of Finality
7676
7777There are two main types of finality in blockchains: probabilistic and
7878deterministic. Probabilistic finality means that there is a chance of a
@@ -81,42 +81,21 @@ Deterministic finality means that there is no chance of a reorganization. A
8181popular chain with probabilistic finality is Bitcoin. A popular chain with
8282deterministic finality is Ethereum.
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84- ### Before Milestones
85-
86- In the traditional setup:
87-
88- - Finality was ** probabilistic** until a checkpoint was submitted to L1. Users
89- and developers had to wait for many blocks (some applications waited 256
90- blocks) to be created before they could be reasonably sure that a transaction
91- was final. This meant that there was always a small chance of a reorganization
92- (reorg), where a different chain might become the canonical chain.
93-
94- - Checkpoints to Ethereum: Heimdall would submit checkpoints to Ethereum after
95- every 256 blocks (minimum), anchoring Polygon’s state to the security of
96- Ethereum. However, finality on the Polygon chain itself was slow and uncertain
97- until this checkpoint was confirmed.
98-
99- ![ Finality Before Milestones] ( ../../../img/pos/milestones_02.png )
100-
101- _ Finality achieved after 256 blocks (approx. 10 minutes)._
102-
103- ### After Milestones
84+ ### With Milestones in Polygon
10485
10586With the introduction of milestones:
10687
10788- Finality is ** deterministic** even before a checkpoint is submitted to L1.
108- After a certain number of blocks (minimum 12) , a milestone is proposed and
89+ After a certain number of blocks in consensus layer , a milestone is proposed and
10990 validated by Heimdall. Once 2/3+ of the network agrees, the milestone is
11091 finalized, and all transactions up to that milestone are considered final,
11192 with no chance of reorganization.
11293
11394- Separation of Checkpoints and Milestones: Checkpoints still occur every 256
11495 blocks (minimum) and are submitted to Ethereum. However, milestones provide
115- much faster finality on the Polygon chain itself , using Heimdall layer for
96+ much faster finality on Polygon chain, using Heimdall layer for
11697 finalization, improving the user experience significantly.
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118- ![ Finality After Milestones] ( ../../../img/pos/milestones_03.png )
119-
120- _ Finality achieved after at least 12 blocks confirmation and 4 blocks of buffer,
99+ _ Finality achieved after a number of blocks confirmation,
121100as well as a consensus period among the validators (approx. 3-5 seconds)_
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