Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Overview of Blockchain Consensus Algorithms: Comparison, Challenges and Future Directions

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Advances on Smart and Soft Computing

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 1188))

Abstract

Like any other distributed system, the Blockchain technology relies on consensus algorithms in order to reach agreement and secure its network. Over the past few years, several kinds of consensus algorithms were created in the Blockchain ecosystem. In this paper, we present some main consensus algorithms used by the Blockchain technology. We also provide a comparison summary of their advantages and weaknesses as well as in which Blockchain type can be used. Furthermore, we present some challenges and possible directions related to the trendiest domains. With this work, for a given situation, we hope to help to choose the right algorithm to use. In addition, we hope to give directions to new possible algorithms propositions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Nakamoto, S.: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Bitcoin. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf (2008)

  2. Moore, T.: The promise and perils of digital currencies. Int. J. Crit. Infrastruct. Prot. 6, 147–149 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcip.2013.08.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Raikwar, M., Mazumdar, S., Ruj, S., Sen Gupta, S., Chattopadhyay, A., Lam, K.-Y.: A blockchain framework for insurance processes. In: 2018 9th IFIP International Conference on New Technologies, Mobility and Security (NTMS), pp. 1–4. IEEE, Paris (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Li, Y., Yang, W., He, P., Chen, C., Wang, X.: Design and management of a distributed hybrid energy system through smart contract and blockchain. Appl. Energy 248, 390–405 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.04.132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mettler, M.: Blockchain technology in healthcare: the revolution starts here. In: 2016 IEEE 18th International Conference on e-Health Networking, Applications and Services (Healthcom), pp. 1–3. IEEE, Munich, Germany (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ølnes, S., Ubacht, J., Janssen, M.: Blockchain in government: benefits and implications of distributed ledger technology for information sharing. Gov. Inf. Q. 34, 355–364 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2017.09.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Han, M., Li, Z., He, J. (Selena), Wu, D., Xie, Y., Baba, A.: A novel blockchain-based education records verification solution. In: Proceedings of the 19th Annual SIG Conference on Information Technology Education—SIGITE’18, pp. 178–183. ACM Press, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA (2018). https://doi.org/10.1145/3241815.3241870

  8. Haber, S., Stornetta, W.S.: How to time-stamp a digital document. In: Conference on the Theory and Application of Cryptography, pp. 437–455. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Wood, G.: Ethereum: a secure decentralised generalised transaction ledger. Ethereum Project Yellow Paper 151 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lamport, L., Shostak, R., Pease, M.: The Byzantine generals problem. ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst. 4(3), 382–401 (1982)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Dwork, C., Naor, M.: Pricing via processing or combatting junk mail. In: Brickell, E.F. (ed.) Advances in Cryptology—CRYPTO’92, pp. 139–147. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48071-4_10

  12. Ethereum. https://ethereum.org/. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  13. Litecoin—open source P2P digital currency. https://litecoin.org/. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  14. King, S., Nadal, S.: Ppcoin: peer-to-peer crypto-currency with proof-of-stake. Self-Published Paper, 19 Aug 2012

    Google Scholar 

  15. Nxt community: Nxt Whitepaper. https://whitepaper.io/document/62/nxt-whitepaper. Accessed 10 Feb 2020

  16. Learn about Ethereum. https://ethereum.org/learn/#proof-of-work-and-mining. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  17. Schuh, F., Larimer, D.: Bitshares 2.0: Financial Smart Contract Platform. 12

    Google Scholar 

  18. BitShares Blockchain Foundation: The BitShares Blockchain. https://github.com/bitshares-foundation/bitshares.foundation/blob/master/download/articles/BitSharesBlockchain.pdf

  19. Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS)—BitShares Documentation. https://docs.bitshares.org/en/master/technology/dpos.html. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  20. Bitshares-foundation/bitshares.foundation. https://github.com/bitshares-foundation/bitshares.foundation. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  21. EOSIO—Blockchain Software Architecture. https://eos.io/. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  22. Slasheks/lisk-whitepaper. https://github.com/slasheks/lisk-whitepaper. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  23. Parity Technologies. https://www.parity.io/ethereum/. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  24. Go Ethereum. https://geth.ethereum.org/. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  25. Go Ethereum. https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/interface/private-network. Accessed 19 Dec 2019

  26. Dziembowski, S., Faust, S., Kolmogorov, V., Pietrzak, K.: Proofs of space. In: Annual Cryptology Conference, pp. 585–605. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Gauld, S., von Ancoina, F., Stadler, R.: The burst dymaxion (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Park, S., Kwon, A., Fuchsbauer, G., Gaži, P., Alwen, J., Pietrzak, K.: SpaceMint: a cryptocurrency based on proofs of space. In: Meiklejohn, S., Sako, K. (eds.) Financial Cryptography and Data Security, pp. 480–499. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58387-6_26

  29. Cohen, B., Pietrzak, K.: The Chia Network Blockchain. 44

    Google Scholar 

  30. Castro, M., Liskov, B.: Practical Byzantine fault tolerance. In: OSDI, vol. 99, no. 1999, pp. 173–186 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Seeley, L., Io, B.: Introduction to Sawtooth PBFT. https://www.hyperledger.org/blog/2019/02/13/introduction-to-sawtooth-pbft. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  32. Chen, L., Xu, L., Shah, N., Gao, Z., Lu, Y., Shi, W.: On security analysis of proof-of-elapsed-time (PoET). In: Spirakis, P., Tsigas, P. (eds.) Stabilization, Safety, and Security of Distributed Systems, pp. 282–297. Springer International Publishing, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69084-1_19

  33. Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX). https://www.intel.com/content/www/fr/fr/architecture-and-technology/software-guard-extensions.html. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  34. User: Ids—Bitcoin Wiki. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/User:Ids. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  35. Proof of Burn—Bitcoin Wiki. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_burn. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  36. Counterparty. https://counterparty.io/. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  37. Gilad, Y., Hemo, R., Micali, S., Vlachos, G., Zeldovich, N.: Algorand: scaling Byzantine agreements for cryptocurrencies. In: Proceedings of the 26th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles—SOSP’17, pp. 51–68. ACM Press, Shanghai, China (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3132747.3132757

  38. Protocol Labs: Filecoin: A Decentralized Storage Network (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Yin, M., Malkhi, D., Reiter, M.K., Gueta, G.G., Abraham, I.: HotStuff: BFT consensus in the lens of blockchain. arXiv:1803.05069 (2019)

  40. Consensus Libra: https://developers.libra.org/. Accessed 06 Dec 2019

  41. Krause, M.J., Tolaymat, T.: Quantification of energy and carbon costs for mining cryptocurrencies. Nat. Sustain. 1, 711–718 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0152-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Li, X., Jiang, P., Chen, T., Luo, X., Wen, Q.: A survey on the security of blockchain systems. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. S0167739X17318332 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2017.08.020

  43. Reyna, A., Martín, C., Chen, J., Soler, E., Díaz, M.: On blockchain and its integration with IoT. Challenges and opportunities. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. 88, 173–190 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2018.05.046

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Center for Scientific and Technological Research (CNRST).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science, Modeling Systems and Decision Support Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences Ain-Chok, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco

    Kebira Azbeg, Ouail Ouchetto, Said Jai Andaloussi & Laila Fetjah

Authors
  1. Kebira Azbeg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ouail Ouchetto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Said Jai Andaloussi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Laila Fetjah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kebira Azbeg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computer Science and Engineering, Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia

    Faisal Saeed

  2. Department of Computing and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Tawfik Al-Hadhrami

  3. School of Computing, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Sintok, Malaysia

    Fathey Mohammed

  4. Faculty of science Ain Chock, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco

    Errais Mohammed

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Azbeg, K., Ouchetto, O., Jai Andaloussi, S., Fetjah, L. (2021). An Overview of Blockchain Consensus Algorithms: Comparison, Challenges and Future Directions. In: Saeed, F., Al-Hadhrami, T., Mohammed, F., Mohammed, E. (eds) Advances on Smart and Soft Computing. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1188. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6048-4_31

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation