General
Beginner
Updated 1/15/2025
What is
Censorship Resistance?
The ability of a blockchain to process any valid transaction without discrimination, preventing governments, corporations, or other entities from blocking or reversing transactions.
Censorship resistance is a fundamental property of decentralized blockchains that ensures no single entity can prevent valid transactions from being processed or reverse confirmed transactions. This is achieved through decentralization of miners/validators, permissionless participation, and cryptographic security. Ergo prioritizes censorship resistance through its Proof-of-Work consensus, ASIC-resistant mining (enabling geographic distribution), and privacy features (Sigma protocols, ErgoMixer) that make transaction censorship technically difficult even if attempted.
Key Points
- No single entity can block valid transactions
- Achieved through decentralized mining and validation
- Ergo's PoW and ASIC-resistance promote miner diversity
- Privacy features make targeted censorship difficult
- Permissionless - anyone can send transactions
- Core principle of cryptocurrency and financial freedom
Use Cases
1
Sending funds without bank or government approval
2
Protecting against financial deplatforming
3
Enabling commerce in restrictive jurisdictions
4
Preserving financial privacy and autonomy
5
Ensuring transaction finality without reversals
Technical Details
Ergo achieves censorship resistance through multiple layers: 1) ASIC-resistant Autolykos enables diverse, global mining preventing geographic concentration. 2) Any valid transaction paying sufficient fees will eventually be included. 3) Sigma protocols enable private transactions that can't be easily identified for censorship. 4) Decentralized network topology prevents single points of control. 5) Open-source code prevents hidden censorship mechanisms.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about Censorship Resistance
Common questions about this topic
How to get started with Ergo?
Start by getting a wallet (Nautilus for browser, Terminus for mobile). Back up your seed phrase securely offline. Get some ERG from an exchange (Gate.io, KuCoin) or DEX (Spectrum). Make a test transaction. Then explore: try DeFi on Spectrum, check out NFTs, or dive into the technology if you're a builder.
How-to
Getting Started
Is Ergo a good investment?
This is not financial advice. Ergo has strong fundamentals: fair launch (no VC dump risk), innovative technology (eUTXO, Sigma Protocols, NiPoPoWs), active development, and a cypherpunk ethos. It's a smaller market cap project with higher risk/reward than established chains. Research thoroughly, understand the technology, and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
Comparison
Getting Started
What can I do with Ergo?
Ergo supports a full ecosystem: trade on Spectrum DEX, use SigmaUSD stablecoin, mix transactions with ErgoMixer, collect NFTs on SkyHarbor, mine with GPUs, lend/borrow on DuckPools, bridge to other chains via Rosen, and build dApps with ErgoScript. It's a complete platform for decentralized finance and applications.
Explainer
Getting Started
How do miners earn money on Ergo?
Ergo miners earn from three sources: block rewards (newly minted ERG), transaction fees, and storage rent. Block rewards decrease over time according to the emission schedule, but storage rent ensures long-term income even after all ERG is mined. Most miners use pools for consistent payouts.
How-to
Mining