Quorum Node is based on Ethereum's Geth client, but with a series of changes:
- Ethereum's PoW consensus algorithm has been replaced. There is currently a choice of two alternatives, which were briefly discussed previously.
- The P2P protocol has been modified to allow only authorized nodes to connect, preventing connections from the wider public.
- The way Ethereum maintains and records its state has been changed to allow public and private states to be handled separately in two different Patricia Merkle trees.
- Block validation has been altered to handle private transactions as well as public transactions.
- The gas-pricing mechanism has been removed, though the concept of gas is still used.
So far, Geth has been altered in such a ...