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SoK: X-assisted BFT Consensus Protocols

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Blockchain – ICBC 2023 (ICBC 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14206))

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Abstract

Blockchain, as an enabler of the current Internet infrastructure, has introduced a plethora of unique features, revolutionizing distributed systems and propelling us into a new era. Its core principles of decentralization, immutability, and transparency have enticed numerous applications to embrace the blockchain design philosophy and tailor diverse replicated solutions. At the heart of the blockchain lies the consensus protocols, which play a pivotal role in achieving distributed replication systems. The distributed system community has invested significant efforts in comprehensively studying the technical components of consensus to enable agreement among a group of nodes. Nonetheless, the presence of various faults and trust issues poses challenges in designing resilient systems for practical applications. To address this, Byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) state machine replication (SMR) emerges as an ideal candidate capable of tolerating arbitrary faulty behaviors. Despite its promise, the inherent complexity and rapid evolution of BFT consensus protocols hinder their practical adaptation to different application domains. Remarkably, there exists a wealth of exceptional Byzantine-based replicated solutions and innovative ideas that have notably improved performance, availability, and resource efficiency. This paper aims to conduct a systematic and comprehensive study of X-assisted BFT consensus protocols, with a specific focus on the blockchain era. For instance, numerous studies have explored the utilization of trusted components and cryptographic primitives to assist in tolerating Byzantine nodes and reducing the number of communication rounds. We delve into the essentials of BFT consensus protocols for blockchains in Byzantine settings. We then decompose the state-of-the-art solutions to gain a comprehensive BFT consensus in detail. For each X-assisted protocol, we conduct an in-depth discussion of its essential architectural building blocks and the key techniques employed. We aim that this paper can provide system researchers and developers with a concrete view of the current design landscape and facilitate their quest for practical solutions to specific problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emerson Automation Solutions, Austin, USA

    Gang Wang & Mark Nixon

  2. University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA

    Gang Wang

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  1. Gang Wang
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  2. Mark Nixon
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Correspondence to Gang Wang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Data61, Eveleigh, NSW, Australia

    Qin Wang

  2. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Jun Feng

  3. Shenzhen Entrepreneurship and Innovation Federation (SEIF), Shenzhen, China

    Liang-Jie Zhang

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Wang, G., Nixon, M. (2023). SoK: X-assisted BFT Consensus Protocols. In: Wang, Q., Feng, J., Zhang, LJ. (eds) Blockchain – ICBC 2023. ICBC 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14206. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44920-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44920-8_4

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