Distributed Proof-of-Work for Sharded Blockchain Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sharding in blockchain consensus algorithms, such as Proof-of-Work (PoW), dilutes hashpower, making it easier for adversaries to mount attacks by reducing the computational resources required to attack individual shards, while Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus is vulnerable to signature key compromise leading to false histories, compromising long-term security.
Innovation Solution
The Distributed Proof-of-Work (D-POW) protocol combines the hashpower of all shards to maintain an equivalent security level as a single blockchain, enabling parallel transaction execution by periodically sharing and evaluating PoW hashes across shards, ensuring an adversary must overcome the combined hashpower to attack, thus preventing long-term attacks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If sharding is used to enable parallel blockchains, then scalability and throughput are improved, but security is worsened due to hashpower dilution
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the blockchain into multiple parallel shards that can process transactions independently, enabling parallel execution and increasing throughput. Each shard maintains its own block chain while contributing to the overall system security through distributed proof-of-work.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the security functions across multiple shards by having each shard contribute its proof-of-work hashes to a global difficulty target. This combining of hashpower across shards ensures that an attacker must overcome the combined computational power of all shards, maintaining security equivalent to a single blockchain while enabling parallel processing.
2Adaptability or versatility
If sharding is used to increase scalability, then decentralization is improved, but security is worsened due to reduced computational resources per shard
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the blockchain into multiple independent shards that can be processed by different computational nodes, increasing decentralization and adaptability. Each shard operates semi-independently while contributing to the global security through distributed proof-of-work mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the security contributions from all shards by aggregating their proof-of-work hashes toward a common difficulty target. This ensures that even though each individual shard has reduced computational resources, the combined hashpower across all shards maintains security levels equivalent to a single blockchain.
3Loss of energy
If proof-of-stake is used instead of proof-of-work, then energy consumption is reduced, but security is worsened due to vulnerability to signature key compromise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the signature-based verification mechanism of proof-of-stake with a computational puzzle-based proof-of-work mechanism. This substitution eliminates the vulnerability to signature key compromise while maintaining energy efficiency through optimized hashing operations and distributed computational tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-based method for combining individual hashpower of a plethora of shards that use a proof-of-work hash procedure such that each shard benefits from the hashpower from all other shards in the plethora of shards whereby a chosen set of shards having a maximal combined individual hashpower is a consensus.