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What is the difference between proof of stake and proof of work?

Published Sep 18, 2026Updated Sep 19, 2026Last verified Sep 18, 2026Requests recorded in this site’s own server logs, with the crawler identity checked by reverse DNS or IP range.Google15OpenAI7Anthropic1First collected Sep 18, 2026Recent requestsGoogleSep 21, 2026GoogleSep 21, 2026Anthropic · unverifiedSep 21, 2026GoogleSep 21, 2026GoogleSep 21, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026GoogleSep 20, 2026
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Quick answer

Proof of work secures a blockchain through computing power and electricity: miners compete to solve puzzles. Proof of stake secures it through locked-up tokens that can be destroyed if a validator cheats. This makes PoS far less energy-intensive. Ethereum estimates that its switch to PoS in September 2022 cut its energy use by about 99.95%. Ethereum also argues that attacks cost more under PoS, because an attacker's stake can be slashed. PoW hardware, by contrast, can be reused.

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Answer

ethereum.org estimates a 51% attack is about 20 times cheaper on proof of work than on proof of stake [2]. It gives the energy reduction as about 99.95% on one page [3] and about 99.98% on another [2].

Sources

  1. officialProof-of-stake (PoS) — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 19, 2026 · Evidence page
  2. officialProof-of-stake vs proof-of-work — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  3. officialThe Merge — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 19, 2026 · Evidence page
  4. officialEthereum proof-of-stake attack and defense — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  5. officialProof-of-stake Frequently Asked Questions — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  6. officialPrague-Electra (Pectra) — ethereum.org · accessed Sep 19, 2026 · Evidence page
  7. newsEthereum Activates 'Pectra' Upgrade, Raising Max Stake to 2,048 ETH — CoinDesk · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  8. officialEthereum's energy usage will soon decrease by ~99.95% — Ethereum Foundation Blog · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  9. academicOuroboros: A Provably Secure Proof-of-Stake Blockchain Protocol (Advances in Cryptology – CRYPTO 2017, pp. 357–388, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-63688-7_12) — University of Edinburgh Research Explorer / Springer · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  10. otherPeercoin — Wikipedia · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  11. officialProof-of-stake — Octez & Protocol documentation — Tezos / Octez documentation · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page
  12. governmentStatement on Certain Protocol Staking Activities — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance · accessed Sep 20, 2026 · Evidence page