Related papers: Frosty for partial synchrony
We introduce Casper, a proof of stake-based finality system which overlays an existing proof of work blockchain. Casper is a partial consensus mechanism combining proof of stake algorithm research and Byzantine fault tolerant consensus…
We present HotStuff, a leader-based Byzantine fault-tolerant replication protocol for the partially synchronous model. Once network communication becomes synchronous, HotStuff enables a correct leader to drive the protocol to consensus at…
Classical and contemporary distributed consensus protocols, may they be for binary agreement, state machine replication, or blockchain consensus, require all protocol participants in a peer-to-peer system to agree on exactly the same…
As the cornerstone of blockchain, block synchronization plays a vital role in maintaining the security. Without full blockchain synchronization, unexpected forks will emerge and thus providing a breeding ground for various malicious…
Ethereum Research team has proposed a family of Casper blockchain consensus protocols for Ethereum 2.0. It has been shown in the literature that Casper Friendly Finality Gadget (Casper FFG) for Ethereum 2.0's beacon network cannot achieve…
Dynamic participation has recently become a crucial requirement for devising permissionless consensus protocols. This notion, originally formalized by Pass and Shi (ASIACRYPT 2017) through their "sleepy model", captures the essence of a…
An emerging blockchain protocol design pattern leverages the asymmetry between the computational effort in performing versus verifying tasks. For example, cryptographic validity proofs (e.g., SNARKS) require the prover to expend significant…
Existing blockchain networks are often large-scale, requiring transactions to be synchronized across the entire network to reach consensus. On-chain computations can be prohibitively expensive, making many CPU-intensive computations…
There has been recently a lot of progress in designing efficient partially synchronous BFT consensus protocols that are meant to serve as core consensus engines for Proof of Stake blockchain systems. While the state-of-the-art solutions…
Proof of Stake (PoS) protocols rely on voting mechanisms to reach consensus on the current state. If an enhanced majority of staking nodes, also called validators, agree on a proposed block, then this block is appended to the blockchain.…
Distributed ledgers are common in the industry. Some of them can use blockchains as their underlying infrastructure. A blockchain requires participants to agree on its contents. This can be achieved via a consensus protocol, and several BFT…
We propose a new Proof-of-Stake consensus protocol constructed with a verifiable random function (VRF) and a verifiable delay function (VDF) that has the following properties: a) all addresses with positive stake can participate; b) is fair…
Blockchain sharding is a promising approach to solving the dilemma between decentralisation and high performance (transaction throughput) for blockchain. The main challenge of Blockchain sharding systems is how to reach a decision on a…
A blockchain is a distributed ledger for recording transactions, maintained by many nodes without central authority through a distributed cryptographic protocol. All nodes validate the information to be appended to the blockchain, and a…
Sharding enhances blockchain scalability by dividing the network into shards, each managing specific unspent transaction outputs or accounts. As an introduced new transaction type, cross-shard transactions pose a critical challenge to the…
The LMD GHOST consensus protocol is a critical component of proof-of-stake Ethereum. In its current form, this protocol is brittle, as evidenced by recent attacks and patching attempts. We propose Goldfish, a new protocol that satisfies key…
Synchronous consensus protocols offer a significant advantage over their asynchronous and partially synchronous counterparts by providing higher fault tolerance -- an essential benefit in distributed systems, like blockchains, where…
This paper introduces SPOT, a Secure and Privacy-preserving prOximity based protocol for e-healthcare systems. It relies on a distributed proxy-based approach to preserve users' privacy and a semi-trusted computing server to ensure data…
Increased interest in scalable and high-throughput blockchains has led to an explosion in the number of committee selection methods in the literature. Committee selection mechanisms allow consensus protocols to safely select a committee, or…
Blockchains host smart contracts for crowdfunding, tokens, and many other purposes. Vulnerabilities in contracts are often discovered, leading to the loss of large quantities of money. Psamathe is a new language we are designing around a…