Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)

DPoS is a variant of proof of stake where each user's vote weight is proportional to their tokens and is delegated to candidates. A predefined number of elected delegates produce blocks in rotation (round-robin), with continuous re-election: a delegate that fails or misbehaves can be voted out. Each network's key parameters are the number of active delegates, the block slot duration and the scheme for sharing rewards with voters. Daniel Larimer proposed the concept in 2013 and BitShares was its first implementation in 2014.

Its rationale is performance: by coordinating few producers, the network achieves fast blocks and high transaction capacity. For a company comparing candidate networks to tokenize an asset, DPoS poses an explicit trade-off between throughput and decentralization. Few identified validators mean greater speed, but also a more concentrated point of capture or collusion, which lowers censorship resistance compared with networks that use open validator sets.

The clearest real examples are EOS, with 21 active elected block producers, and TRON, with 27 Super Representatives. BitShares was the pioneering network. Networks such as Tezos and Cardano use adapted forms of validator election, but they are not pure DPoS in the strict sense. In the EU regulatory context, it is worth weighing how much decentralization a use case demands before choosing a network: an asset under MiCA with governance and custody requirements may weigh this trade-off differently than a project oriented solely toward speed.