Lifeline Consensus: Protect Small-scale Blockchain From Typical Attacks

Blockchain is a distributed network system known for its anonymity, security, and decentralized nature. While blockchains with robust networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are proving immutable to attacks, many others are vulnerable to security threats. To address this issue, we proposed the Lifeline consensus, which aims to protect small-scale blockchains by delivering safety from a strong leading blockchain to a relatively vulnerable following blockchain using a new type of data called Coil. Coil carries the proof-of-work evidence created by miners from an arbitrary following blockchain, which the leading blockchain then gathers and generates immutable blocks that contained them. Miners from the following blockchain can use the coils in the leading blockchain for validation, thereby protecting small-scale blockchains from typical blockchain threats such as 51% attacks and selfish mining. We implemented our protocol and encountered adversaries in the local network, and analyzed its performance. The results showed that the Lifeline protocol is dependable with a Trusted Leader. These findings suggest that our protocol has the potential to improve the security of small-scale blockchains and enhance the overall performance of the blockchain network.