Authors: Hong-Sheng Zhou; Alexander Mozeika; David Rusu

Introduction

As with any Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus protocol, the probability that an eligible Cryptarchia participant wins the right to propose a block depends on that participant’s stake relative to the total active stake. Because leader selection in Cryptarchia is private, the total active stake is not directly observable. Nodes therefore infer it from observable chain growth.

Total Stake Inference (TSI) is the mechanism that updates a public estimate of the total active stake denominator from observed slot occupancy. The estimate is then used by leaders to calculate their relative stake as part of the leadership lottery without revealing their private stake.

This draft preserves the TSI feedback update law and generalizes the measurement step. The compatibility mode chain_only reproduces the baseline behavior by counting occupied slots from settled canonical-chain evidence. The reference-enhanced mode chain_plus_resolved_refs additionally counts resolved, measurement-eligible references to recently observed off-branch blocks carried by settled canonical blocks.

Overview

The total active stake can be inferred by observing the slot occupancy rate. A higher fraction of occupied slots implies more stake participating in consensus. By observing the rate of occupied slots from the previous epoch and knowing the total stake estimate used during that period, each node can infer a correction to the total stake estimate.

This specification makes the measurement step explicit:

measured_occupancy = measure_occupancy(epoch_slot, PERIOD, mode)

where mode is one of:

The returned value is a slot-binarized occupancy count. Multiple counted blocks in the same slot contribute one occupied slot.

Normative scope

• This specification defines the TSI construction, measurement modes, update algorithm, reference measurement rules, and edge cases.
• This specification does not change fork choice, ledger-state transition, eligibility proof semantics, or block weight.
• A referenced block may contribute active-slot evidence for TSI measurement. It does not become canonical through the carrier block.
• If a separate block-format or block-validation specification owns the refs field, that specification should define the field and carrier-block structural validity rules. This TSI specification then consumes the resolved reference view for measurement.

Definitions