This article is published on Medium.

Mina uses a proof of stake consensus mechanism with a block producer selection similar to Ouroboros, known as Ouroboros Samisika. The opportunity to produce a block for a slot is determined by a verifiable random function (VRF). This selection can be thought of like a lottery with each block producer independently running this function for each slot. If they get a VRF output greater than a threshold proportional to the producer’s stake, they get the chance to produce a block at the designated slot.