Master Thesis
Blockchain consensus protocols based on stake
Multiple deployed blockchain platforms today are based on consensus protocols that combine ideas from the world of well-known Byzantine-fault tolerant (BFT) consensus with votes based on stake. In this context, “stake” denotes either the total wealth, denominated in coins or in tokens, that a participant holds; alternatively, “stake” may stand for an amount of wealth that a participant invests into keeping the platform secure by voting with it in the consensus protocol, which would be lost if the participant behaves incorrectly and this becomes evident.
Stake-based consensus protocols are generally related to voting-based protocols based on quorums, such as those covered in the literature [1]. The goal of this project is to analyze stake-based consensus as deployed today in some blockchain platforms (which are to be determined) and to describe and analyze their security.
Given that many deployed protocols do not come with appropriate documentation and arguments for the security of their protocols, this project mostly entails the analysis of an implementation. The intended result would be to formalize an implemented protocol in the language understood by security researchers.
References
[1] Introduction to Reliable and Secure Distributed Programming