Validators publish structured votes about chain and checkpoint views.
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A participant signs a statement about which draft page and checkpoint they currently support.
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Receive, check and share across independent nodesStep 1 / 4
A node receives a proposed transaction or block-related message. Receipt is not the same as accepting its claims.
A node receives a proposed transaction or block-related message. Receipt is not the same as accepting its claims.The node checks the relevant authorization and protocol rules. Popularity does not make an invalid state transition valid.Valid candidate data can propagate to peers. Connections and timing differ, so there is no perfect simultaneous worldwide view.Peers validate under the same protocol rules. This illustration is about verification and propagation, not a complete proof-of-stake consensus algorithm.
Animated local teaching model. No wallet, RPC or live blockchain data. Some labels and hashes are abbreviated for readability.
Votes have a defined structure
An attestation contains information used by Ethereum’s consensus rules. It is not a free-form review of whether a particular payment is morally desirable. Signatures and duty context matter.
Stake weights participation
Consensus thresholds and fork choice use stake-related weighting rather than treating each named validator or IP address as one equal political voter. Creating more display names does not itself create more stake.
Timeliness and consistency matter
Correct participation can earn rewards, while missed or incorrect behavior can incur penalties. Certain provably conflicting messages can be slashable. Not every missed duty is the same as a slashing event.
Follow the chain-level meaning
Attestations help coordinate a chain view and finality process. They do not replace execution checks, which still reject invalid state transitions under protocol rules.
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Are attestations a separate unanimous vote on each individual payment?
They are structured consensus messages about the chain and checkpoints.