eprintid: 10180002
rev_number: 7
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/18/00/02
datestamp: 2024-02-07 12:07:04
lastmod: 2024-02-07 12:07:04
status_changed: 2024-02-07 12:07:04
type: working_paper
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Tessone, Claudio J
creators_name: Tasca, Paolo
creators_name: Ianelli, Flavio
title: Stochastic modelling of blockchain consensus
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B04
divisions: C05
divisions: F48
note: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: Blockchain and general purpose distributed ledgers are foundational technologies which bring significant innovation in the infrastructures and other underpinnings of our socio-economic systems. These P2P technologies are able to securely diffuse information within and across networks, without need for trustees or central authorities to enforce consensus. In this contribution, we propose a minimalistic stochastic model to understand the dynamics of blockchain-based consensus. By leveraging on random-walk theory, we model block propagation delay on different network topologies and provide a classification of blockchain systems in terms of two emergent properties. Firstly, we identify two performing regimes: a functional regime corresponding to an optimal system function; and a non-functional regime characterised by a congested or branched state of sub-optimal blockchains. Secondly, we discover a phase transition during the emergence of consensus and numerically investigate the corresponding critical point. Our results provide important insights into the consensus mechanism and sub-optimal states in decentralised systems.
date: 2021-06-11
publisher: ArXiv
official_url: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2106.06465
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2101129
lyricists_name: Tasca, Paolo
lyricists_id: PTASC73
actors_name: Tasca, Paolo
actors_id: PTASC73
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
place_of_pub: Ithaca, NY, USA
pages: 16
citation:        Tessone, Claudio J;    Tasca, Paolo;    Ianelli, Flavio;      (2021)    Stochastic modelling of blockchain consensus.                    ArXiv: Ithaca, NY, USA.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10180002/1/2106.06465.pdf