Research Area:  Blockchain Technology

Abstract:

For a blockchain, consensus is the foundation protocol that enables cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to maintain state. Additionally, to ensure safety and liveness for a publicly accessible and verifiable ledger, fault tolerance must be robust. However, there appears to be a degree of misunderstanding about how consensus is applied across blockchains. To assist researchers considering variations between them, this study presents a rational classification of consensus methods applied to current blockchains. The study provides a survey of 19 methods classified by the scarce resource they employ: clock-cycles, bits, tokens, votes, time, and biometrics. Blockchain implementations are split between consensus algorithms requiring proof of resource and those that use majority voting to update the ledger.

Keywords:  

Author(s) Name:  Jeff Nijsse and Alan Litchfield

Publisher name:  MDPI

DOI:  10.3390/cryptography4040032

Volume Information:  Volume 4 Issue 4

Paper Link:   https://www.mdpi.com/2410-387X/4/4/32