License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)
When quoting this document, please refer to the following
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2021.42
URN: urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-148440
URL: http://dagstuhl.sunsite.rwth-aachen.de/volltexte/2021/14844/
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Zappalà, Paolo ; Belotti, Marianna ; Potop-Butucaru, Maria ; Secci, Stefano

Game Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Blockchains Robustness

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LIPIcs-DISC-2021-42.pdf (0.7 MB)

Abstract

In this paper we propose a game theoretical framework in order to formally characterize the robustness of blockchains systems in terms of resilience to rational deviations and immunity to Byzantine behaviors. Our framework includes necessary and sufficient conditions for checking the immunity and resilience of games and an original technique for composing games that preserves the robustness of individual games. We prove the practical interest of our formal framework by characterizing the robustness of various blockchain protocols: Bitcoin (the most popular permissionless blockchain), Tendermint (the first permissioned blockchain used by the practitioners), Lightning Network, a side-chain protocol and a cross-chain swap protocol. For each one of the studied protocols we identify upper and lower bounds with respect to their resilience and immunity (expressed as no worse payoff than the initial state) face to rational and Byzantine behaviors.

BibTeX - Entry

@InProceedings{zappala_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2021.42,
  author =	{Zappal\`{a}, Paolo and Belotti, Marianna and Potop-Butucaru, Maria and Secci, Stefano},
  title =	{{Game Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Blockchains Robustness}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2021)},
  pages =	{42:1--42:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-210-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{209},
  editor =	{Gilbert, Seth},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2021/14844},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-148440},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2021.42},
  annote =	{Keywords: Blockchain protocols, Distributed algorithms, Game-theoretical modeling, Fault tolerance, Failure robustness}
}

Keywords: Blockchain protocols, Distributed algorithms, Game-theoretical modeling, Fault tolerance, Failure robustness
Collection: 35th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2021)
Issue Date: 2021
Date of publication: 04.10.2021

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