Widest Chain Metric for Manipulation-Resistant Ledger Consensus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital record keeping systems face challenges in achieving consensus on a shared ledger without a central authority, particularly in maintaining manipulation resistance and efficiency, as they are prone to issues like double spending and energy-intensive proof of work algorithms that lead to centralization and high power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A peer-to-peer consensus system that uses a widest chain metric to select a single consensus transaction history, allowing for efficient and trustable digital asset tracking by associating assets with public cryptographic keys and employing a protocol that encourages the creation of a shared, manipulation-resistant ledger, while reducing power consumption and overcoming network latency and data corruption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If proof of work algorithms are used to achieve consensus, then manipulation resistance is improved, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the consensus mechanism from proof of work to proof of stake, fundamentally altering the parameter by which nodes are selected to create blocks. Instead of selecting based on computational power (energy-intensive), the system selects based on the amount of stake (digital currency) held by nodes, thereby reducing power consumption while maintaining manipulation resistance through economic incentives.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical computational process of proof of work with an economic-based proof of stake mechanism. Rather than requiring nodes to perform energy-intensive cryptographic puzzles, the system uses stake-weighted random selection, substituting a computational-mechanical system with an economic-mathematical one that achieves the same consensus goal with minimal energy consumption.
2Reliability
If proof of work algorithms are used to achieve consensus, then manipulation resistance is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent simplifies the consensus mechanism by changing the selection parameter from computational power to stake amount. This parameter change reduces system complexity by eliminating the need for complex proof of work verification processes, block difficulty adjustments, and energy consumption monitoring, while maintaining manipulation resistance through the economic security model of proof of stake.
3Reliability
If multiple transaction histories are maintained, then network latency and data corruption are accommodated, but ledger size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by having nodes maintain only the single best chain according to the widest chain metric, rather than maintaining multiple potential chains. The widest chain metric allows nodes to confidently select one chain as the consensus chain, reducing the need to store and process multiple transaction histories while still accommodating network latency and data corruption through the robustness of the selection criterion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses cryptographic hashing to create compact representations of transaction histories. Each block contains a hash of the previous block, creating a compact chain of references that verifies the entire history without storing redundant copies of all transactions. This copying mechanism reduces ledger size while maintaining the ability to verify consensus.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure describes a peer-to-peer consensus system and method for maintaining a manipulation resistant updateable shared ledger. The system achieves consensus on a shared ledger between a plurality of peers and prevents double spending in light of network latency, data corruption and intentional manipulation of the system. Consensus is achieved and double spending is prevented via the use of the widest chain metric to choose a single consensus transaction record. A trustable record is also facilitated by allowing stakeholders to elect a set of trusted non-colluding block signers to cooperatively add transactions to the consensus record. The voting mechanism is a real-time auditable stake weighted approval voting mechanism.