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Issue #115
Paper of the Week:
Paper Title: Blockchain Layer Zero: Characterizing the Bitcoin Network through Measurements, Models, and Simulations.
TLDR:
In recent years, research has shown the networking layer’s significant influence on the scalability, security, and privacy of blockchain systems.
Such large-scale networks however exhibit a degree of complexity that demands model-based simulations as real-world experiments are often not possible.
This work methodically characterizes blockchain networks by reference to the paradigmatic Bitcoin peer-to-peer network, explores the state-of-the-art protocols, and emphasizes this key design space.
It conducts a longitudinal measurement study on the Bitcoin network, from which it extracts a comprehensive network model and implements it as part of the bns network simulation framework.
It validates the model in comparison to real-world measurements as well as to results from related work.
Moreover, it experimentally shows how network utilization and miners’ geographical location impact the block propagation characteristics.
Authors: Elias Rohrer* and Florian Tschorsch*,
Affiliations: * Technical University of Berlin.
Security:
1. Paper Title: A Rational Protocol Treatment of 51% Attacks.
Summary: This work utilizes the recently proposed blockchain adaptation of the rational protocol design (RPD) framework to analyze 51% double-spending attacks against Nakamoto-style proof-of-work based cryptocurrencies.
Authors: Christian Badertscher*, Yun Lu†, and Vassilis Zikas‡
Affiliations: * IOHK, † University of Edinburgh, and ‡ Purdue University.
2. Paper Title: W-OTS+ up my Sleeve! A Hidden Secure Fallback for Cryptocurrency Wallets.
Summary: A new approach to integrate a quantum-secure fallback inside an elliptic curve private key.
Authors: David Chaum*, Mario Larangeira†, Mario Yaksetig*‡, and William Carter*,
Affiliations: * xx network, † Tokyo Institute of Technology, ‡ IOHK, and § University of Porto.
3. Paper Title: Towards Verifiable Mutability for Blockchains.
Summary: A blockchain-like structure that enables the attachment and removal of information.
Authors: Erik Daniel* and Florian Tschorsch*,
Affiliations: * Technical University of Berlin.
4. Paper Title: Modeling the Block Verification Time of Zcash.
Summary: A model for the block verification time of Zcash based on transaction features and a benchmark of the Zcash client’s block verification process and its employed cryptographic primitives to support and evaluate the model.
Authors: Fabian Stiehle, Erik Daniel* and Florian Tschorsch*,
Affiliations: * Technical University of Berlin.
Privacy:
1. Paper Title: MiniLedger: Compact-sized Anonymous and Auditable Distributed Payments.
Summary: A distributed payment system which not only guarantees the privacy of transactions, but also offers built-in functionalities for various types of audits by any external authority.
Authors: Panagiotis Chatzigiannis* and Foteini Baldimtsi*,
Affiliations: * George Mason University.
Scalability:
1. Paper Title: Donner: UTXO-Based Virtual Channels Across Multiple Hops.
Summary: The first virtual channel construction over multiple intermediaries in a single round of communication.
Authors: Lukas Aumayr*, Pedro Moreno-Sanchez, Aniket Kate, and Matteo Maffei*,
Affiliations: * TU Wien, † IMDEA Software Institute, and ‡ Purdue University.
Proofs:
No papers.
Consensus:
1. Paper Title: Capacity Analysis of Public Blockchain.
Summary: This paper presents discrete-time Markov chain models to quantify the capacity of Proof-of-Work based public blockchains in non-ideal networks.
Authors: Xu Wang*, Wei Ni†, Xuan Zha‡, Guangsheng Yu*, Ren Ping Liu*, Nektarios Georgalas§, and Andrew Reeves§,
Affiliations: * University of Technology Sydney, † Data61, CSIRO, ‡ China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and § British Telecom.
Tokenomics:
1. Paper Title: JACK THE RIPPLER: Arbitrage on the Decentralized Exchange of the XRP Ledger.
Summary: A bot that identifies and exploits arbitrage opportunities on the XRPL DEX.
Authors: Gaspard Peduzzi*, Jason James†, and Jiahua Xu†,
Affiliations: * EPFL and † UCL.
Research Talks:
Upcoming Events:
Decentralising the Internet with IPFS and Filecoin workshop at IFIP Networking 2021.
ACM Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2021). Call for Papers
Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology (CBT 2021). Call for Papers
Jobs:
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