Tenderbake Algorithm | cryptocurrencies, blockchains & live prices

Tenderbake is the consensus protocol used by the Tezos blockchain since the Ithaca upgrade, replacing the earlier Emmy* protocol. Tenderbake is inspired by Tendermint and adapts its BFT consensus approach for Tezos's unique on-chain governance and self-amendment architecture. Like Tendermint, Tenderbake operates in rounds within each block level, with a designated baker (block producer) proposing a block and endorsers (validators) voting to finalize it through preendorsement and endorsement phases. A block is finalized when it receives endorsements from at least two-thirds of the endorsement slots. If a round fails (due to a missing or invalid proposal), the protocol advances to the next round with a different baker.

Tenderbake provides deterministic finality — once a block receives sufficient endorsements, it is final and cannot be reorganized. This is an improvement over the previous Emmy* protocol, which provided only probabilistic finality. Block times are approximately 15 seconds, and finality is achieved within a single block confirmation. The protocol tolerates up to one-third of the endorsement power being Byzantine. Bakers and endorsers are selected based on their stake (or delegated stake) of tez tokens, with the probability of selection proportional to stake. Tenderbake's design is compatible with Tezos's self-amendment mechanism, where the protocol itself can be upgraded through on-chain governance votes without requiring hard forks.

Tenderbake has been running on the Tezos mainnet since the Ithaca upgrade in March 2022. Tezos was founded by Arthur and Kathleen Breitman and launched in 2018 as one of the first blockchains with formal on-chain governance and self-amendment capabilities. The migration from Emmy* to Tenderbake was itself accomplished through Tezos's on-chain governance process, demonstrating the platform's ability to evolve its consensus mechanism without contentious hard forks. Tezos has been adopted for various use cases including digital art NFTs, tokenized real estate, and enterprise applications, particularly in Europe where it has gained institutional adoption. The Tenderbake protocol name is a portmanteau of "Tendermint" and "bake" (Tezos's term for block production).