Blockchain Sharding Architecture

Blockchain Sharding Architecture

System Design: The document describes a blockchain sharding architecture that shares the workload of the entire network by creating multiple independent consensus zones, each running its own blockchain instance.

Asynchronous consensus: Each zone independently reaches consensus, minimizing communication between zones while ensuring decentralization and security.

Asynchronous consensus zones (Zones):

Zone independence: Each zone is responsible for its own blockchain data, including blocks and transactions, which are replicated and stored only in its own zone.

Block and transaction structure: Blocks are divided into chaining blocks and transaction blocks. Chaining blocks contain consensus verification data and the Merkle root of transaction blocks.

Cross-zone transaction processing:

Two-way transfer mechanism: Cross-zone transactions are processed by generating relay transactions, which carry deposit operations and are executed in the destination zone.

Final atomicity: The final atomicity mechanism is used to ensure the correctness and robustness of cross-zone transactions, allowing operations to be interleaved between zones.

Batch Mining:

Batch PoW: Allows miners to create blocks in multiple regions simultaneously by solving a single proof-of-work (PoW) puzzle, improving mining efficiency and security.

Mining distribution: Through batch mining, miners' mining capabilities in multiple regions are enhanced, thereby increasing the difficulty of attacking a single region.

Scalability:

Linear expansion: By increasing the number of consensus regions, the system is able to linearly expand its processing power and support higher transaction throughput.

Experimental results: The document cites experiments conducted in a test environment containing 1,200 virtual machines, showing that the system can achieve a transaction throughput 1,000 times higher than Bitcoin.

System security:

Attack difficulty: Even if a malicious node is able to control most of the mining power in a certain area, due to the batch mining mechanism, its attack difficulty on the entire network is still high.

Fork chain solution: The GHOST protocol is used to solve the temporary chain fork problem, accepting the chain with the largest subtree as the main chain.

Programming model and transaction logic:

Oxidation model: introduces a transaction logic model based on functional programming, which allows the description of different transaction logic fragments that can be relayed and executed between different zones.

State and structure: defines the state and structure in an object-oriented manner, as well as the methods or functions associated with them, which require secure verification information.

The following are short answers based on the document content:

What are asynchronous consensus zones?

Asynchronous consensus zones are independent parts of the blockchain sharding architecture. Each zone runs its own blockchain instance and is responsible for the blocks and transaction data in its own zone, which are only replicated and stored in its own zone. Each zone conducts consensus independently, minimizing communication between zones while ensuring decentralization and security.

How are cross-zone transactions handled?

Cross-zone transactions are handled by generating relay transactions. When a transaction involves users in multiple zones, a withdrawal operation is first performed in the source zone, and a relay transaction carrying a deposit operation is generated. The relay transaction is sent to the destination zone and the deposit operation is performed. The final atomicity mechanism is used to ensure the correctness and robustness of cross-zone transactions.

What is Batch Mining?

Batch mining is a technique that allows miners to create blocks for multiple zones simultaneously by solving a single proof-of-work (PoW) puzzle. This improves mining efficiency and security because the mining power of miners in multiple zones is enhanced, making it more difficult to attack a single zone.

How does the system achieve linear scalability?

The system achieves linear scalability by increasing the number of consensus zones. Each additional zone can independently handle a portion of the workload, thereby increasing the processing power of the system as a whole. This scalability supports higher transaction throughput, as shown in the document, in a test environment containing 1,200 virtual machines, the system is able to achieve 1,000 times higher transaction throughput than Bitcoin.

What is the Oxidation programming model?

Oxidation is a transaction logic model based on functional programming, which allows the description of different transaction logic fragments that can be relayed and executed between different zones. The model defines states and structures in an object-oriented manner, as well as methods or functions associated with them, which require secure verification information (such as digital signatures) to ensure the security of execution.