Staking is a process used in [[Proof of Stake]] (PoS) blockchains to create final consensus in the exchange of asset ownership. Those who own the underlying asset can "lock up" those funds on the blockchain to receive financial payouts (typically in the blockchain's underlying asset). A person who meets the minimum staking requirements may run a validator node, which implies voting power in the validation of [[Bitcoin Anatomy#Block|blocks]]. While some blockchains have minimum staking thresholds, it is possible to participate in a staking pool regardless of how much of the asset you own. The amount of voting power one has is proportionate to their economic value _at stake_ (or assets "staked")_._ Penalties for reversing transactions or invalidating bad blocks will vary depending on the PoS implementations, but in the case of [[Ethereum]], the validator will lose all funds staked. In this way, staking is uniquely different from [[Mining|mining]] in that the penalty is more financial than computational. Because PoS consensus mechanisms are not computationally expensive, they are considered to be viable ecological alternatives to mining. The outstanding questions remain whether PoS implementations will maintain security, auditability, and censorship resistance.