Rethinking Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) Protocols in the Age of Blockchains

Blockchain technology is gaining an increasing amount of attentions in the past few years, partially due to the popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It has the potential to profoundly disrupt a wide range of industries. Despite its great potential, today’s blockchain has several major hurdles. First, it can be slow. Second, it can be costly. Third, it has scalability issues. In this proposed research, we aim to create a blockchain testnet for evaluating different blockchain algorithms, such as Tendermint, Casper, Thunderella, Honey Badger, and Algorand. The testnet will not only serve as a fair means of comparison but also provide us with an in-depth understanding of design space and tradeoffs among different blockchain algorithms. The research outcomes are expected to provide the partner company with substantial insights into the security and performance of various blockchain algorithms.

Faculty Supervisor:

Chen Feng

Student:

Partner:

Dapper Labs Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Program: