The Architecture of Trust
Byzantine Fault Tolerance
A distributed system property ensuring correct operation even when some participants are malicious or unreliable.
Definition
The property of a distributed system that can continue to operate correctly even when some participants behave maliciously or fail arbitrarily. Named after the Byzantine Generals Problem, BFT consensus mechanisms ensure that honest nodes reach agreement despite unreliable or adversarial peers. In the context of sovereign custody, BFT principles underpin threshold signing quorums: the system functions correctly even if a minority of signing devices are compromised.