Scalable and fungible blockchain consensus via proof of resource

Wang, Xuechao

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120284 Copy

Description

Title

Scalable and fungible blockchain consensus via proof of resource

Author(s)

Wang, Xuechao

Issue Date

2023-04-19

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Viswanath, Pramod

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Viswanath, Pramod

Committee Member(s)

• Hajek, Bruce
• Miller, Andrew
• Ren, Ling

Department of Study

Electrical & Computer Eng

Discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Blockchain
• Consensus

Abstract

Built on the pioneering work of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is a permissionless blockchain operating on proof-of-work based on the Nakamoto longest chain protocol. However, the scalability of Bitcoin is unsatisfactory: it has large energy consumption and uncompetitive performance. Consequently, designing scalable blockchains has garnered significant interest from both academia and industry. One avenue of exploration has involved replacing proof-of-work with more energy-efficient alternatives, such as proof-of-stake and proof-of-space. However, the security of these alternative systems remain poorly understood. Concurrently, several emerging proof-of-work blockchain protocols employ a “parallel-chain” architecture to scale performance, where instead of a single chain, multiple chains operate in parallel and are subsequently aggregated. However, the practicality of these proposals has yet to be demonstrated. Furthermore, improving blockchain security has emerged as a major research direction. One promising approach involves the fungible combination of various consensus mechanisms, resources, or blockchains. Fungibility is an essential attribute of these combinations, as it ensures that the system’s security is not solely dependent on one single consensus mechanism, resource, or blockchain. In this dissertation, we conduct a thorough study of the challenges involved in designing scalable and fungible blockchain consensus via proof of resource. Specifically, we investigate the following topics: i) analyzing the security of Bitcoin and its energy-efficient alternatives; ii) improving the scalability and practicality of Prism, a recently proposed high-performance proof-of-work blockchain protocol; iii) exploring the feasibility of designing innovative blockchain protocols with enhanced security in a fungible manner.

Graduation Semester

2023-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Xuechao Wang

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