A Survey on Consortium Blockchain Consensus Mechanisms

Blockchain is a distributed ledger that is decentralized, immutable, and transparent, which maintains a continuously growing list of transaction records ordered into blocks. As the core of blockchain, the consensus algorithm is an agreement to validate the correctness of blockchain transactions. For example, Bitcoin is a public blockchain where each node in Bitcoin uses the Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm to reach a consensus by competing to solve a puzzle. Unlike a public blockchain, a consortium blockchain is an enterprise-level blockchain that does not contend with the issues of creating a resource-saving global consensus protocol. This paper highlights state-of-the-art solutions in consensus algorithms for enterprise blockchain. For example, the HyperLedger by Linux Foundation implements Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) as the consensus algorithm. HotStuff, implemented by Facebook’s Libra project, has achieved linear complexity of the authentication process. This paper presents the operational mechanisms of aforementioned and many other consensus protocols for consortium blockchains, and analyzes and compares their strengths and weaknesses. The paper also provides insights of future research directions in consortium blockchain consensus mechanisms.

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