Simulating a Blockchain Network with SimBlock

Abstract

Blockchain techniques are attracting growing interest due to their capability of immutable and anonymous recording without any centralized authority. One of the difficulties blockchain researchers are facing is a lack of ways to verify behaviors of large scale blockchain networks. In this demonstration, we present SimBlock, a blockchain network simulator. It simulates the peer-to-peer network of a public blockchain, e.g., Bitcoin, which consists of thousands of nodes, as well as parameters related to a blockchain and its network are flexibly configurable. SimBlock can also visualize nodes’ behavior and block propagation. By giving some example studies, such as exploring better neighbor selection strategies and assessing the influence of relay networks, we show that SimBlock can facilitate blockchain network research.