Understanding blockchain: Definitions, architecture, design, and system comparison

IF 13.3 1区计算机科学 Q1 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Computer Science Review Pub Date : 2023-08-16 DOI:10.1016/j.cosrev.2023.100575

Mohammad Hossein Tabatabaei, Roman Vitenberg, Narasimha Raghavan Veeraragavan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The explosive advent of the blockchain technology has led to hundreds of blockchain systems in the industry, thousands of academic papers published over the last few years, and an even larger number of new initiatives and projects. Despite the emerging consolidation efforts, the area remains highly turbulent without systematization, educational materials, or cross-system comparative analysis.

In this paper, we provide a systematic and comprehensive study of four popular yet widely different blockchain systems: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, and IOTA. The study is presented as a cross-system comparison, which is organized by clearly identified aspects: definitions, roles of the participants, entities, and the characteristics and design of each of the commonly used layers in the cross-system blockchain architecture. Our exploration goes deeper compared to what is currently available in academic surveys and tutorials. For example, we provide the first extensive coverage of the storage layer in Ethereum and the most comprehensive explanation of the consensus protocol in IOTA. The exposition is due to the consolidation of fragmented information gathered from white and yellow papers, academic publications, blogs, developer documentation, communication with the developers, as well as additional analysis gleaned from the source code. We hope that this survey will help the readers gain in-depth understanding of the design principles behind blockchain systems and contribute towards systematization of the area.

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理解区块链:定义、体系结构、设计和系统比较

区块链技术的爆炸性出现导致了行业中数百个区块链系统，在过去几年中发表了数千篇学术论文，以及更多的新举措和项目。尽管正在进行整合工作，但该地区仍然高度动荡，没有系统化、教育材料或跨系统的比较分析。在本文中，我们对四个流行但差异很大的区块链系统进行了系统而全面的研究：比特币、以太坊、Hyperledger Fabric和IOTA。该研究以跨系统比较的形式进行，由明确的方面组织：定义、参与者的角色、实体，以及跨系统区块链架构中每个常用层的特征和设计。与目前学术调查和教程中的内容相比，我们的探索更深入。例如，我们提供了以太坊中存储层的首次广泛覆盖，以及IOTA中共识协议的最全面解释。此次博览会是由于整合了从白皮书和黄色论文、学术出版物、博客、开发人员文档、与开发人员的沟通以及从源代码中收集的额外分析中收集的零散信息。我们希望这项调查能帮助读者深入了解区块链系统背后的设计原则，并为该领域的系统化做出贡献。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Computer Science Review Computer Science-General Computer Science

CiteScore

32.70

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

51 days

期刊介绍： Computer Science Review, a publication dedicated to research surveys and expository overviews of open problems in computer science, targets a broad audience within the field seeking comprehensive insights into the latest developments. The journal welcomes articles from various fields as long as their content impacts the advancement of computer science. In particular, articles that review the application of well-known Computer Science methods to other areas are in scope only if these articles advance the fundamental understanding of those methods.