Ngoc Phuong Bui
ABSTRACT
Blockchain technology has seen rapid adoption of Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism in lieu of Proof-of-Work due to the former’s efficiency and speed. One notable example of Proof-of-Stake is the Tendermint protocol, which has been powering the entirety of Cosmos system - an ecosystem of multiple interlocked chains. However, Tendermint’s choice of deterministically deciding the next block proposer presents a huge window for malicious actors to prepare and coordinate attacks on upcoming validator nodes, possibly crippling the attacked chain. Furthermore, randomized number generation in this blockchain ecosystem still proves to be a challenge by reason of blockchain’s inherent deterministic nature. Aiming at the above problems, in this paper, we propose an improvement over Tendermint consensus protocol, utilizing Elliptic Curve Verifiable Random Function, a fast and secure pseudorandom generation algorithm suitable for deterministic systems like blockchain. This novel approach will solve the problem of knowing the validator ahead of time, whilst the verifiable random function module will be capable of supplying reliable random numbers to the overlaying beacon chain - a blockchain capable of distributing random numbers to users through smart contracts, and even other blockchains through Cosmos’ InterBlockchain Communication Protocol. The performed experiments with a prototype blockchain demonstrated that the new consensus protocol improves Tendermint’s resilience against network-layer attack vectors, while maintaining adequate fairness and performance.
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Index Terms
- An Enhanced Tendermint Consensus Protocol Powered by Elliptic Curve VRF for Beacon Chain Model
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