Related papers: Achieving Almost All Blockchain Functionalities wi…
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…
Contemporary blockchain such as Bitcoin and Ethereum execute transactions serially by miners and validators and determine the Proof-of-Work (PoW). Such serial execution is unable to exploit modern multi-core resources efficiently, hence…
Scalability is a common issue among the most used permissionless blockchains, and several approaches have been proposed to solve this issue. Tackling scalability while preserving the security and decentralization of the network is a…
Blockchain protocols are based on a distributed database where stored data is guaranteed to be immutable. The requirement that all nodes have to maintain their own local copy of the database ensures security while consensus mechanisms help…
In the context of blockchain systems, the importance of decentralization is undermined by the lack of a widely accepted methodology to measure it. To address this gap, we set out a systematization effort targeting the decentralization…
At the core of each blockchain system, parties communicate through a peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay. Unfortunately, recent evidence suggests these P2P overlays represent a significant bottleneck for transaction throughput and scalability.…
While cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications continue to gain popularity, their energy cost is evidently becoming unsustainable. In most instances, the main cost comes from the required amount of energy for the Proof-of-Work, and this…
Performing smart computations in a context of cloud computing and big data is highly appreciated today. Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) is a smart category of encryption schemes that allows working with the data in its encrypted form. It…
Nakamoto consensus has been incredibly influential in enabling robust blockchain systems, and one of its components is the so-called heaviest chain rule (HCR). Within this rule, the calculation of the weight of the chain tip is performed by…
Modern high load applications store data using multiple database instances. Such an architecture requires data consistency, and it is important to ensure even distribution of data among nodes. Load balancing is used to achieve these goals.…
PAI Coin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism utilizes the double SHA-256 hashing protocol-- the same mechanism used by Bitcoin Core. This compatibility with classic Bitcoin-style mining provides low barrier to entry for PAI Coin…
Blockchain protocols implement total-order broadcast in a permissionless setting, where processes can freely join and leave. In such a setting, to safeguard against Sybil attacks, correct processes rely on cryptographic proofs tied to a…
Blockchains offer a useful abstraction: a trustworthy, decentralized log of totally ordered transactions. Traditional blockchains have problems with scalability and efficiency, preventing their use for many applications. These limitations…
Precision, validity, reliability, timeliness, availability, and granularity are the desired characteristics for data and information systems. However due to the desired trait of data mutability, information systems have inherently lacked…
Although the decentralized storage technology based on the blockchain can effectively realize secure data storage on cloud services. However, there are still some problems in the existing schemes, such as low storage capacity and low…
Firmware integrity is a foundational requirement for securing Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), where malicious or compromised firmware can result in persistent backdoors, unauthorized control, or catastrophic system failures. Traditional…
Blockchain protocols differ in fundamental ways, including the mechanics of selecting users to produce blocks (e.g., proof-of-work vs. proof-of-stake) and the method to establish consensus (e.g., longest chain rules vs. Byzantine…
The efficiency of decentralized book systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum has always been a challenge. It is usually measured by three major factors: scalability, throughput, and latency. Scalability refers to how the system capacity is…
Today's world is organized based on merit and value. A single global currency that's decentralized is needed for a global economy. Bitcoin is a partial solution to this need, however it suffers from scalability problems which prevent it…
Although blockchain, the supporting technology of Bitcoin and various cryptocurrencies, has offered a potentially effective framework for numerous applications, it still suffers from the adverse affects of the impossibility triangle.…