Speaker: Yonatan Sompolinsky
The Hebrew University

Date: Monday, 8 December 2014
Time: 12noon
Place: Rothberg A410

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"Recent Results Regarding the Bitcoin Protocol"

Abstract:

Bitcoin is an innovative protocol which allows a decentralized network
to arrive at consensus about its history log while maintaining
anonymity. Its original use-case was the bitcoin currency, bitcoin
transactions being the main data approved by the network. However, it
was since recognized that the protocol can be applied to any type of
streaming data with some underlying notion of consistency needs being
maintained.

While novel, the original Bitcoin protocol is still inefficient: It
solves conflicts in a single-winner fashion, thereby wasting the work
done by losing candidates. Consequently, the protocol has severe
scaling limitations. We first suggest a more general setup for the
underlying problem. We then present several alternative mechanisms,
which preserve the protocol's core yet significantly deviate from its
original design. The benefits of these alternatives will be discussed,
as well as their limitations and subtleties.

Further related research questions will be presented if time permits.

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