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SoK: Public Blockchain Sharding

Md Mohaimin Al Barat, Shaoyu Li, Changlai Du, Y. Thomas Hou, Wenjing Lou

TL;DR

This study provides a systemization of knowledge of knowledge of public blockchain sharding, including the core components of sharding systems, challenges, limitations, and mechanisms of the latest sharding protocols.

Abstract

Blockchain's decentralization, transparency, and tamper-resistance properties have facilitated the system's use in various application fields. However, the low throughput and high confirmation latency hinder the widespread adoption of Blockchain. Many solutions have been proposed to address these issues, including first-layer solutions (or on-chain solutions) and second-layer solutions (or off-chain solutions). Among the proposed solutions, the blockchain sharding system is the most scalable one, where the nodes in the network are divided into several groups. The nodes in different shards work in parallel to validate the transactions and add them to the blocks, and in such a way, the throughput increases significantly. However, previous works have not adequately summarized the latest achievements in blockchain sharding, nor have they fully showcased its state-of-the-art. Our study provides a systemization of knowledge of public blockchain sharding, including the core components of sharding systems, challenges, limitations, and mechanisms of the latest sharding protocols. We also compare their performance and discuss current constraints and future research directions.

SoK: Public Blockchain Sharding

TL;DR

This study provides a systemization of knowledge of knowledge of public blockchain sharding, including the core components of sharding systems, challenges, limitations, and mechanisms of the latest sharding protocols.

Abstract

Blockchain's decentralization, transparency, and tamper-resistance properties have facilitated the system's use in various application fields. However, the low throughput and high confirmation latency hinder the widespread adoption of Blockchain. Many solutions have been proposed to address these issues, including first-layer solutions (or on-chain solutions) and second-layer solutions (or off-chain solutions). Among the proposed solutions, the blockchain sharding system is the most scalable one, where the nodes in the network are divided into several groups. The nodes in different shards work in parallel to validate the transactions and add them to the blocks, and in such a way, the throughput increases significantly. However, previous works have not adequately summarized the latest achievements in blockchain sharding, nor have they fully showcased its state-of-the-art. Our study provides a systemization of knowledge of public blockchain sharding, including the core components of sharding systems, challenges, limitations, and mechanisms of the latest sharding protocols. We also compare their performance and discuss current constraints and future research directions.
Paper Structure (47 sections, 4 equations, 5 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 47 sections, 4 equations, 5 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Sharding Overview and Challenges
  3. Sharding Overview
  4. Notations
  5. Problem Definition
  6. System Model
  7. Homogeneous Model
  8. Heterogeneous Model
  9. Network Model
  10. Threat Model
  11. Key Components of Sharding
  12. Identity Establishment and Committee Configuration
  13. Identity Setup
  14. Bootstrapping and Committee Configuration
  15. Bootsrapping
  16. ...and 32 more sections

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: Figure (a) shows the divided network into multiple shards. Figure (b) shows how the shards maintain disjoint ledgers, the intra-shard transaction involving only one shard, and cross-shard transactions involving multiple shards
  • Figure 2: Key components of sharding and their goals
  • Figure 3: RapidChain consensus rounds
  • Figure 4: Cross-Shard Tx in RapidChain
  • Figure 5: Relay transaction in Monoxide