Security Model
Snowside’s consensus and security model combines two layers: Avalanche’s Snowman consensus for fast, deterministic finality, and Blind Merged Mining for Bitcoin-anchored settlement. Together, they provide a three-tier confirmation model that lets users choose the trust level appropriate to their use case.
Layer 1: Avalanche Snowman Consensus
Section titled “Layer 1: Avalanche Snowman Consensus”Snowside validators run Avalanche’s Snowman consensus protocol. Snowman is the linear-chain variant of the Avalanche Consensus Protocol, designed for blockchains that require a total ordering of transactions.
Key properties:
- Deterministic finality — once a block is accepted, it is final
- Sub-second confirmation — transactions typically finalize in 1–3 seconds
- Validator-set sovereignty — Snowside validators are independent of C-Chain
- Permissionless participation — anyone staking AVAX can validate
Layer 2: BMM Settlement to Bitcoin
Section titled “Layer 2: BMM Settlement to Bitcoin”While Snowman consensus provides fast finality among Snowside validators, BMM anchoring to Bitcoin provides the ultimate security guarantee. Every Snowside block (or batches of blocks) is anchored to Bitcoin via a BMM commitment.
Reverting Snowside’s settled history requires attacking Bitcoin’s hashrate — economically irrational for any attacker.
Three-Tier Confirmation
Section titled “Three-Tier Confirmation”| Tier | Time | Security Level | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instant | 1–3 seconds | Avalanche Snowman consensus | Payments, dApp interactions |
| Confirmed | ~10 minutes | Multiple validator rounds | Medium-value transactions |
| Settled | ~60 minutes | Bitcoin-anchored via BMM | High-value settlements |
Users and applications choose the tier that matches their requirements. Payment applications can accept Instant confirmation, while high-value settlements may wait for Settled confirmation.
Comparison with Alternatives
Section titled “Comparison with Alternatives”vs Ethereum L2/Rollups
Section titled “vs Ethereum L2/Rollups”Ethereum L2s require wrapping BTC to use it as gas. They share a sequencer with other L2s, have multi-minute confirmation times, and offer no custom precompiles. Snowside provides native BTC gas, sovereign validators, sub-second finality, and custom precompiles.
vs Avalanche C-Chain
Section titled “vs Avalanche C-Chain”The C-Chain uses AVAX for gas and shares validators with all C-Chain users. Snowside has its own validator set, uses BTC for gas, and can implement custom precompiles for eCash-specific logic.
vs Standalone Chain
Section titled “vs Standalone Chain”A standalone chain could theoretically implement BTC gas and custom precompiles, but it would lack Avalanche’s ICM bridge for USDC, require expensive manual validator operations, and miss the operational automation provided by NodeRunr.