Related papers: BitVMX: A CPU for Universal Computation on Bitcoin
Cloud providers offer a variety of execution platforms in form of bare-metal, VM, and containers. However, due to the pros and cons of each execution platform, choosing the appropriate platform for a specific cloud-based application has…
The upcoming many-core architectures require software developers to exploit concurrency to utilize available computational power. Today's high-level language virtual machines (VMs), which are a cornerstone of software development, do not…
Cryptographic algorithms have been used not only to create robust ciphertexts but also to generate cryptograms that, contrary to the classic goal of cryptography, are meant to be broken. These cryptograms, generally called puzzles, require…
Designing quantum processors is a complex task that demands advanced verification methods to ensure their correct functionality. However, traditional methods of comprehensively verifying quantum devices, such as quantum process tomography,…
Bitcoin's limited scripting capabilities and lack of native interoperability mechanisms have constrained its integration into the broader blockchain ecosystem, especially decentralized finance (DeFi) and multi-chain applications. This paper…
Smart contracts - computer protocols that regulate the exchange of crypto-assets in trustless environments - have become popular with the spread of blockchain technologies. A landmark security property of smart contracts is liquidity: in a…
The key cryptographic protocols used to secure the internet and financial transactions of today are all susceptible to attack by the development of a sufficiently large quantum computer. One particular area at risk are cryptocurrencies, a…
Inspired by Bitcoin, many different kinds of cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology have turned up on the market. Due to the special structure of the blockchain, it has been deemed impossible to directly trade between traditional…
Verifying computational processes in decentralized networks poses a fundamental challenge, particularly for Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) computations. Our investigation reveals significant limitations in existing approaches: exact…
Block-STM is a parallel execution engine for smart contracts, built around the principles of Software Transactional Memory. Transactions are grouped in blocks, and every execution of the block must yield the same deterministic outcome.…
This paper presents pragmatic solutions for verifying complex mathematical algorithms implemented in hardware in an efficient and effective manner. Maximizing leverage of a known-answer-test strategy, based on predefined data scenarios…
Bitcoin is the most successful cryptocurrency so far. This is mainly due to its novel consensus algorithm, which is based on proof-of-work combined with a cryptographically-protected data structure and a rewarding scheme that incentivizes…
We present the Quantum Virtual Machine (QVM), an end-to-end generic system for scalable execution of large quantum circuits with high fidelity on noisy and small quantum processors (QPUs) by leveraging gate virtualization. QVM exposes a…
Ethereum smart contracts are public, immutable and distributed and, as such, they are prone to vulnerabilities sourcing from programming mistakes of developers. This paper presents SAFEVM, a verification tool for Ethereum smart contracts…
The Payment Protocol standard BIP70, specifying how payments in Bitcoin are performed by merchants and customers, is supported by the largest payment processors and most widely-used wallets. The protocol has been shown to be vulnerable to…
A Unitychain is a novel blockchain-like structure that drastically improves transaction scalability and security while maintaining ongoing network performance, even if participating nodes are required to perform a new Distributed Key…
Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) have emerged as promising candidates for solving complex optimization and machine learning tasks on near-term quantum hardware. However, executing quantum operations remains challenging for small-scale…
Efficient virtualization of CPU and memory is standardized and mature. Capabilities such as Intel VT-x [3] have been added by manufacturers for efficient hypervisor support. In contrast, virtualization of a block device and its presentation…
The Bitcoin protocol is a significant milestone in the history of money. However, its adoption is currently constrained by the transaction limits of the system. As the chief problem of blockchain technology, the scaling issue has attracted…
Most blockchain platforms from Ethereum onwards render smart contracts as stateful reactive objects that update their state and transfer crypto-assets in response to transactions. A drawback of this design is that when users submit a…