Abstract
We propose an asynchronous, highly effective proof-of-stake protocol optimized for fast finality, while allowing for high throughputs via execution parallelization. It is a probabilistic protocol that achieves higher Byzantine fault tolerance than Nakamoto, BFT (including Hotstuff and AptosBFT), Solana, and other modern consensus protocols. Our protocol reaches consensus in two communication steps and has a total number of messages that are subquadratic to the number of nodes, with probabilistic, dynamically adjusted safety guarantees. We trade off deterministic consensus with theoretical constraints on message complexity and the number of Byzantine agreements, with probabilistic algorithms overtaking these boundaries. We further claim that because of the use of randomness and socioeconomics in blockchain designs, no real trade-off is actually present. One of the key ingredients of our approach is separating the verification of execution by a consensus committee from the attestation of block propagation by network participants. Our consensus committee is randomly selected for each block and is not predetermined, while the Leader is deterministic.
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Notes
- 1.
A double-spend attack, in the context of blockchain and digital currencies, refers to a situation where a single set of digital tokens or currency is spent more than once. This type of attack exploits the digital nature of the currency, as digital information can be replicated.
- 2.
Because of this multithreaded property, Acki Nacki uses an Asynchronous Virtual Machine to execute transactions. This is beyond the scope of this paper, so we mention it here for future references.
- 3.
A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.
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Goroshevsky, M., Sattarov, N., Trepacheva, A. (2024). Acki Nacki: A Probabilistic Proof-of-Stake Consensus Protocol with Fast Finality and Parallelisation. In: Andreoni, M. (eds) Applied Cryptography and Network Security Workshops. ACNS 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14586. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61486-6_4
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