Related papers: How Does Blockchain Security Dictate Blockchain Im…
In Proof-of-Work blockchains, difficulty algorithms serve the crucial purpose of maintaining a stable transaction throughput by dynamically adjusting the block difficulty in response to the miners' constantly changing computational power.…
The suitability of a particular blockchain for a given use case depends mainly on the blockchain's functional and non-functional properties. Such properties may vary over time, and thus, a selected blockchain may become unsuitable for a…
Permisionless decentralized ledgers ("blockchains") such as the one underlying the cryptocurrency Bitcoin allow anonymous participants to maintain the ledger, while avoiding control or "censorship" by any single entity. In contrast,…
Modern distributed applications in healthcare, supply chain, and the Internet of Things handle a large amount of data in a diverse application setting with multiple stakeholders. Such applications leverage advanced artificial intelligence…
In recent years, blockchain has grown in popularity due to its singular attributes, enabling the development of new innovative decentralized applications. But when companies consider leveraging blockchain for their applications, the…
Many blockchain consensus protocols have been proposed recently to scale the throughput of a blockchain with available bandwidth. However, these protocols are becoming increasingly complex, making it more and more difficult to produce…
There exist many forms of Blockchain finality conditions, from deterministic to probabilistic terminations. To favor availability against consistency in the face of partitions, most blockchains only offer probabilistic eventual finality:…
This chapter contributes to evolving the versatility and complexity of blockchain-enabled services through extending the functionality of blockchain-enforced smart contracts. The contributions include: (i) a method for automated management…
Algorand is a recent, open-source public or permissionless blockchain system that employs a novel proof-of-stake byzantine consensus protocol to efficiently scale the distributed transaction agreement problem to billions of users. In…
Blockchain-driven technologies are considered disruptive because of the availability of dis-intermediated, censorship-resistant and tamper-proof digital platforms of distributed trust. Among these technologies, smart contract platforms have…
Blockchain has become particularly popular due to its promise to support business-critical services in very different domains (e.g., retail, supply chains, healthcare). Blockchain systems rely on complex middleware, like Ethereum or…
Since the invention of Bitcoin one decade ago, numerous cryptocurrencies have sprung into existence. Among these, proof-of-work is the most common mechanism for achieving consensus, whilst a number of coins have adopted "ASIC-resistance" as…
Cryptocurrencies and their foundation technology, the Blockchain, are reshaping finance and economics, allowing a decentralized approach enabling trusted applications with no trusted counterpart. More recently, the Blockchain and the…
Permissioned Blockchains are increasingly considered in enterprise use-cases, many of which do not require geo-distribution, or even disallow it due to legislation. Examples include country-wide networks, such as Alastria, or those deployed…
The disaggregated and multi-vendor nature of OPEN-RAN networks introduces new supply chain security risks, making equipment authenticity and integrity crucial challenges. Robust solutions are needed to mitigate vulnerabilities in…
Blockchains are tamper evident and tamper resistant digital ledgers implemented in a distributed fashion (i.e., without a central repository) and usually without a central authority (i.e., a bank, company, or government). At their basic…
Blockchain, like any other complex technology, needs a strong testing methodology to support its evolution in both research and development contexts. Setting up meaningful tests for permissionless blockchain technology is a notoriously…
In today's programmable blockchains, smart contracts are limited to being deterministic and non-probabilistic. This lack of randomness is a consequential limitation, given that a wide variety of real-world financial contracts, such as…
The core premise of permissionless blockchains is their reliable and secure operation without the need to trust any individual agent. At the heart of blockchain consensus mechanisms is an explicit cost (whether work or stake) for…
Blockchain is a disruptive technology intended at implementing secure decentralized distributed systems, in which transactional data can be shared, stored and verified by participants of a system using cryptographic and consensus…