How does Bitcoin achieve consensus on the network?

Bitcoin achieves consensus on the network through a proof-of-work mechanism. This process involves miners competing to solve complex cryptographic puzzles, validating transactions, and securing the network. When a miner successfully solves a puzzle, they create a new block that is added to the blockchain. The proof-of-work system incentivizes miners through rewards in the form of newly minted bitcoins and transaction fees, ensuring they are motivated to act honestly.

This mechanism plays a crucial role in decentralizing the decision-making process, as it does not rely on a central authority or any assigned decision-makers to validate transactions. Instead, the network's security and transaction integrity are maintained by the collective efforts of all miners operating on the network. The proof-of-work consensus ensures that only valid transactions are confirmed, as altering any transaction would require redoing the work for that block and all subsequent blocks, making it extremely resource-intensive and impractical for an attacker to succeed.

In contrast to other consensus mechanisms like proof-of-stake, which relies on validators holding and "staking" a certain amount of cryptocurrency to propose blocks, or requiring users to vote on transactions, Bitcoin's proof-of-work approach emphasizes competition and resource expenditure as a means of achieving consensus without central oversight.