The AIN network uses a “flood routing” protocol to ensure that transactions are propagated quickly and efficiently through the network. When validating and propagating transactions, each node in the AIN network acts as a co-equal node in a P2P network. These co-equal nodes form a mesh network, ensuring that all nodes in the network are connected to each other at all times. When a new node connects to the AIN network, the node will establish a connection to 11 other peers in the AIN network. Connected nodes are referred to as “neighbor nodes”. Each node in the AIN network is responsible for both receiving and propagating transactions to and from each of their neighbors.