A method for achieving consensus amongst a distributed and decentralized set of computers, devices or components in a network interacting via messaging is presented. The method does not rely on the availability of an overall ledger that is consulted for every interaction. Rather, the interacting components communicate directly with each other via messages that contain proofs of consistency that may be used to achieve local consistency amongst the interacting components. Local consistency guarantees global consistency. For regulatory and record keeping purposes, use of an overall ledger may be contemplated for regulatory and record keeping purposes. The latter may be updated by the interacting devices via an asynchronous updating mechanism.