­­­­­­­­3.7. Cross-chain consistency

­­­­For faster and more consistent cross-chain operations, the Sequentia network must not be too far behind the Bitcoin network, which means that if a new Bitcoin block is broadcast in the network, the Sequentia network should include a reference to that block as soon as possible in the subsequent Sequentia blocks.

On the side of Sequentia, when a cross-chain operation is executed, nodes should wait for the transaction to appear in a Bitcoin block before broadcasting the corresponding transaction in the Sequentia network, to make sure that the height of the Bitcoin block referenced by the Sequentia block with the cross-chain operation is equal or greater than the Bitcoin block with the corresponding operation.

To provide the right incentive for the Sequentia network to stay up to date with the Bitcoin network, leaders change with every Bitcoin block, leading to a new round of VRF outputs (while the committee composition itself is not affected by new Bitcoin blocks). Committee members will be likely to choose a new leader with every Bitcoin block, because winning the slot will depend on having the lowest VRF, weighted with a coefficient that significantly favors those referencing a Bitcoin block at a greater height.