A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain Protocol
At the heart of the Bitcoin is a blockchain protocol, a protocol for achieving consensus on a public ledger that records bitcoin transactions. To the extent that a blockchain protocol is used for applications such as contract signing and making certain transactions (such as house sales) public, we...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Open Publishing Association
2017-07-01
|
Series: | Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science |
Online Access: | http://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.08751v1 |
id |
doaj-8144a874af49448ab5823452dda36b0e |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-8144a874af49448ab5823452dda36b0e2020-11-25T02:32:45ZengOpen Publishing AssociationElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science2075-21802017-07-01251Proc. TARK 201732433510.4204/EPTCS.251.22:68A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain ProtocolJoseph Y. Halpern0Rafael Pass1 Cornell University Cornell University At the heart of the Bitcoin is a blockchain protocol, a protocol for achieving consensus on a public ledger that records bitcoin transactions. To the extent that a blockchain protocol is used for applications such as contract signing and making certain transactions (such as house sales) public, we need to understand what guarantees the protocol gives us in terms of agents' knowledge. Here, we provide a complete characterization of agent's knowledge when running a blockchain protocol using a variant of common knowledge that takes into account the fact that agents can enter and leave the system, it is not known which agents are in fact following the protocol (some agents may want to deviate if they can gain by doing so), and the fact that the guarantees provided by blockchain protocols are probabilistic. We then consider some scenarios involving contracts and show that this level of knowledge suffices for some scenarios, but not others.http://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.08751v1 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Joseph Y. Halpern Rafael Pass |
spellingShingle |
Joseph Y. Halpern Rafael Pass A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain Protocol Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science |
author_facet |
Joseph Y. Halpern Rafael Pass |
author_sort |
Joseph Y. Halpern |
title |
A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain Protocol |
title_short |
A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain Protocol |
title_full |
A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain Protocol |
title_fullStr |
A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain Protocol |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Knowledge-Based Analysis of the Blockchain Protocol |
title_sort |
knowledge-based analysis of the blockchain protocol |
publisher |
Open Publishing Association |
series |
Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science |
issn |
2075-2180 |
publishDate |
2017-07-01 |
description |
At the heart of the Bitcoin is a blockchain protocol, a protocol for achieving consensus on a public ledger that records bitcoin transactions. To the extent that a blockchain protocol is used for applications such as contract signing and making certain transactions (such as house sales) public, we need to understand what guarantees the protocol gives us in terms of agents' knowledge. Here, we provide a complete characterization of agent's knowledge when running a blockchain protocol using a variant of common knowledge that takes into account the fact that agents can enter and leave the system, it is not known which agents are in fact following the protocol (some agents may want to deviate if they can gain by doing so), and the fact that the guarantees provided by blockchain protocols are probabilistic. We then consider some scenarios involving contracts and show that this level of knowledge suffices for some scenarios, but not others. |
url |
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.08751v1 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT josephyhalpern aknowledgebasedanalysisoftheblockchainprotocol AT rafaelpass aknowledgebasedanalysisoftheblockchainprotocol AT josephyhalpern knowledgebasedanalysisoftheblockchainprotocol AT rafaelpass knowledgebasedanalysisoftheblockchainprotocol |
_version_ |
1724818022623870976 |