Issue #
Paper of the Week:
Paper Title: Single Secret Leader Election.
TLDR:
In a Single Secret Leader Election (SSLE), a group of participants aim to randomly choose exactly one leader from the group with the restriction that the identity of the leader will be known to the chosen leader and nobody else.
For example, in the context of Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchains, the identity of a randomly chosen leader remains secret until she reveals herself as the leader. The added secrecy guarantee defends against several attacks (e.g. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks) that could otherwise compromise liveness of the blockchain.
This paper formally defines and constructs 3 SSLE schemes.
SSLE from indistinguishability obfuscation: involves obfuscating a program that takes as input all the participants’ public keys and outputs a commitment to each user indicating whether that user is the leader as well as a ciphertext encrypted to each user that holds the randomness used for that user’s commitment. The winner is chosen by evaluating a puncturable PRF on public randomness, with the PRF key hidden inside the obfuscated program.
SSLE from threshold FHE: each user posts an encryption of a secret when they register to participate and use computation under the FHE with the public randomness as input to select one string from the registered set.
SSLE from DDH and shuffles: assumes only the hardness of DDH in some group. Instead of encrypting each user’s string, the link between each user is hidden and his/her string by shuffling it into the database of secrets at registration time.
Authors: Dan Boneh*, Saba Eskandarian*, Lucjan Hanzlik*†, and Nicola Greco‡,
Affiliations: * Stanford University, † CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, and ‡ Protocol Labs.
Security:
No papers.
Privacy:
1. Paper Title: SkyEye: A Traceable Scheme for Blockchain.
Summary: aA traceable scheme for blockchain that can be applied to the blockchain applications that satisfy the following conditions: (i) The users have public and private information, where the public information is generated by the private information and (ii) The users’ public information is disclosed in the blockchain data.
Authors: Tianjun Ma*, Haixia Xu*, and Peili Li*,
Affiliations: * Chinese Academy of Sciences.
2. Paper Title: Simulated Blockchains for Machine Learning Traceability and Transaction Values in the Monero Network.
Summary: This work featurizes Monero transactions by characterizing the local structure of the public-facing blockchains and use labels obtained from the simulations to perform machine learning.
Authors: Nathan Borggren*, Hyoung-yoon Kim*, Lihan Yao*, and Gary Koplik*,
Affiliations: * Geometric Data Analytics.
3. Paper Title: Correlations of Multi-input Monero Transactions.
Summary: Correlations in the Monero blockchain can be detected and can reveal information associated to the real transaction within a ring.
Authors: Nathan Borggren* and Lihan Yao*,
Affiliations: * Geometric Data Analytics.
Scalability:
1. Paper Title: The Arwen Trading Protocols.
Summary: Layer-two blockchain protocols for traders to securely trade cryptocurrencies at a centralized exchange, without ceding custody of their coins to the exchange.
Authors: Ethan Heilman*, Sebastien Lipmann*, and Sharon Goldberg*,
Affiliations: * Arwen.
2. Paper Title: Scalable Open-Vote Network on Ethereum.
Summary: A protocol that efficiently reduces the computation and storage cost of the Open Vote Network without sacrificing its inherent security properties.
Authors: Mohamed Seifelnasr*, Hisham S. Galal*, and Amr M. Youssef*,
Affiliations: * Concordia University.
3. Paper Title: Blockchain-based Smart-IoT Trust Zone Measurement Architecture.
Summary: A behavior monitor in IoT-Blockchain infrastructure that can store IoT devices data and classifies behavior (normal or malicious) in order to prevent attacks.
Authors: Jawad Ali*, Toqeer Ali†, Yazed Alsaawy†, Ahmad Shahrafidz Khalid‡, and Shahrulniza Musa‡,
Affiliations: * Universiti Kuala Lumpur, † Islamic University of Madinah, and ‡ Malaysian Institute of Information Technology.
Proofs:
No papers.
Consensus:
1. Paper Title: Consistency in Proof-of-Stake Blockchains with Concurrent Honest Slot Leaders.
Summary: This work improves the fundamental security threshold of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain protocols, reflecting for the first time, the positive effect of rounds with multiple honest leaders.
Authors: Aggelos Kiayias*‡, Saad Quader†, and Alexander Russell†‡,
Affiliations: * University of Edinburgh, † University of Connecticut, and ‡ IOHK.
2. Paper Title: Stake Shift in Major Cryptocurrencies: An Empirical Study.
Summary: This work investigates the ledgers of four major cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Zcash) and computes the average stake shift (the statistical distance of the two distributions) for each value of stake distribution lag between 1 and 14 days, as well as related statistics. It also empirically quantifies the sublinear growth of stake shift with the length of the considered lag interval.
Authors: Rainer Stutz, Peter Gazi, Bernhard Haslhofer , and Jacob Illum,
Affiliations: * Austrian Institute of Technology, † IOHK, and ‡ Chainalysis.
Tokenomics:
1. Paper Title: Understanding Smart Contracts as a New Option in Transaction Cost Economics.
Summary: This study unpacks the smart contract concept within the framework of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE). This institutional economics theory emphasizes the role of distinctive (private and public) contract law regimes in shaping firm boundaries.
Authors: Hanna Halaburda*, Natalia Levina*, and Semi Min,
Affiliations: * New York University.
2. Paper Title: The Third Answer: How Market-Creating Innovation Drives Economic Growth and Development.
Summary: This work assesses how new influences such as Blockchain technology and emerging business models relate to market-creating innovation, institutional evolution, and, ultimately, economic development. It also offers specific examples of how Blockchain technology is being deployed to support market-creating innovation.
Authors: Clayton M. Christensen*, Efosa Ojomo†, Gabrielle Daines Gay‡, and Philip E. Auerswald§,
Affiliations: * Harvard University, † Clayton Christensen Institute, ‡ Ensign College of Public Health, and § George Mason University.
3. Paper Title: Too Big to Cheat: Mining Pools' Incentives to Double Spend in Blockchain Based Cryptocurrencies.
Summary: The contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that centralization is harmless and this paper is the first to formally present such result.
Authors: Ville Savolainen* and Jorge Soria Ruiz-Ogarrio†,
Affiliations: * Hanken School of Economics and † University of Helsinki.
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“Significant research in the blockchain space is constantly being achieved by academic researchers. Unfortunately, a lot of this research is overlooked due to the massive numbers of papers being generated and the way they are being promoted and published. We’ve put together a categorized list of academic papers that can guide our subscribers and keep them up to date.”
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