# Decentralized Cryptocurrency at Scale Mina

**Published by:** [cryptotyger.eth](https://paragraph.com/@cryptotyger/)
**Published on:** 2023-03-17
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@cryptotyger/decentralized-cryptocurrency-at-scale-mina

## Content

Mina’s consensus mechanism is called a Decentralized Cryptocurrency at Scale. So, what does that mean? Mina created the concept of Decentralized Cryptocurrency at Scale. Scalability refers to Mina’s ability to handle the throughput of thousands of transactions per second. The decentralization refers to the accessibility of verifying the chain and synchronizing as a new user. If you’d want to get started with verifying transactions on a cryptocurrency, you’d need to download a full copy of the blockchain. Which, with beginning blockchain networks, might not sound that bad. However, over time this can become seriously impractical. Most top cryptocurrencies today are many gigabytes large and growing, with some near or exceeding 100GB. For most people, like you and me, downloading a file that big, and keeping it, is just not possible. With Mina, instead of having to download an entire blockchain, the network uses zk-SNARKs to compress the blockchain into a tiny snapshot. That snapshot gets send around instead; this helps to keep the costs of verifying transactions lower, and the data remains constant and accessible to everyone. zk-SNARKs — stands for Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge. This, in short, refers to a proof construction where one can prove possession of information, data, etc. through a secret key, without revealing that information, and without any interaction between the prover and verifier. It is Mina’s end goal to allow nearly any internet-connected device to interact with blockchain-verified data. This will make it so much easier to develop crypto apps. With this technology, a nonprofit’s website could show you exactly where every dollar given to them is used for, or file your taxes for you based on all your expenses and income that year. To be continued…

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