Byzantine fault tolerance from ring structure. No blockchain. CC0. No patents.
Traditional consensus: PBFT, Raft, Paxos — complex protocols, O(n^2) messages.
Blockchain: proof-of-work = burn electricity to agree. Absurd.
CRT consensus: the ring Z/970200Z = Z/8 x Z/9 x Z/25 x Z/49 x Z/11 IS the protocol.
ARCHITECTURE:
1. Each of 5 channels = independent voting group
2. Nodes are assigned to channels via their ID mod {8,9,25,49,11}
3. Within each channel: simple majority vote (mod arithmetic)
4. CRT reconstructs the GLOBAL consensus from 5 independent local votes
5. L=11 channel = integrity verifier (detects tampered votes)
BYZANTINE TOLERANCE:
- Traditional BFT: tolerates f < n/3 Byzantine nodes
- CRT BFT: tolerates ANY number of Byzantine nodes in up to 2 of 5 channels
- Why? CRT reconstruction is EXACT — 3 honest channels override 2 corrupt ones
- Each channel votes independently: no cross-channel Byzantine influence
- Equivalent to 2/5 = 40% fault tolerance (vs 33% for PBFT)
WHY CRT WINS:
- O(n) messages per round (not O(n^2) like PBFT)
- No proof-of-work, no staking, no leader election needed
- Agreement falls out of modular arithmetic for FREE
- L=11 = tamper detection built into the algebra
Nodes: Value to agree on: Byzantine nodes:
Gradually increase Byzantine nodes. Find the breaking point.