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The Impact of Block Parameters on the Throughput and Security of Blockchains

  • Cleveland State University
  • University of Science and Technology Beijing

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

It has been well recognized that traditional blockchains have limited throughput. It is intuitive to achieve higher throughput by increasing the block size and shortening the block interval. In this paper, we study the security implications on doing so, and define the boundary for acceptable block sizes and block intervals. We define the security of the blockchain in terms of the stale block rate in the network and carry out an empirical study using a blockchain simulator to find the optimal block parameters (i.e., size and interval). We show that it is possible to achieve sufficiently high throughput for a blockchain platform to be used for activities beyond cryptocurrency, such as state-level electronic voting.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2020 2nd International Conference on Blockchain Technology, ICBCT 2020
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages13-18
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781450377676
DOIs
StatePublished - 12 Mar 2020
Event2nd International Conference on Blockchain Technology, ICBCT 2020 - Hilo, United States
Duration: 12 Mar 202014 Mar 2020

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference2nd International Conference on Blockchain Technology, ICBCT 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHilo
Period12/03/2014/03/20

Keywords

  • Blockchain
  • Distributed consensus
  • Proof of stake
  • Proof of work

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