About the Editors xvii
 
About the Contributors xxi
 
Foreword xxxix
 
Preface xliii
 
1 Introduction 1
Anwer Al-Dulaimi, Octavia A. Dobre, and Chih-Lin I
 
1.1 Exploring Blockchain Technology 1
 
1.2 Developing and Testing Blockchains: Software Development Approach 4
 
1.3 Blockchains and Cloud Integration 7
 
1.4 Blockchain and Mobile Networking 9
 
1.5 Open Architecture and Blockchains 11
 
1.6 Open API and Monetization of Mobile Network Infrastructure 12
 
1.6.1 Using Blockchain Technology to Tokenize API Access 13
 
1.6.2 Monetize Mobile Network Infrastructure 13
 
1.7 Resiliency of Current Blockchain Models 14
 
1.8 Next Evolution in Blockchain Functions 15
 
1.9 Book Objectives and Organization 16
 
References 18
 
2 Enabling Technologies and Distributed Storage 21
Sina Rafati Niya and Burkhard Stiller
 
2.1 Introduction 21
 
2.2 Data Storage 22
 
2.2.1 Distributed File Systems 23
 
2.2.2 Cloud Storage Systems 25
 
2.3 Blockchains 26
 
2.3.1 Building Elements of Blockchains 26
 
2.3.2 Mining in Blockchains 29
 
2.3.3 Blockchain-Based Data Storage 29
 
2.3.4 Blockchain Types 30
 
2.4 Distributed Storage Systems 31
 
2.4.1 DSS Layers 32
 
2.4.2 Distributed Storage Challenges 34
 
2.4.2.1 Security 34
 
2.4.2.2 Reliability 35
 
2.4.2.3 Economic Incentives 35
 
2.4.2.4 Coordination 36
 
2.4.2.5 Monetization 37
 
2.4.3 DSS Implementations 37
 
2.4.4 DSS Use Cases 41
 
2.4.4.1 SCT dApps 42
 
2.4.4.2 SCT dApp Food Chain Example 43
 
2.4.5 Performance Evaluation of DSSs 43
 
2.5 The Future of DSS 45
 
2.6 Concluding Considerations 46
 
Acronyms 46
 
References 47
 
3 Managing Consensus in Distributed Transaction Systems 53
Hans Walter Behrens, Kasim Selçuk Candan, and Dragan Boscovic
 
3.1 Ledgers and Consensus 53
 
3.1.1 Distributed Ledgers 53
 
3.1.2 Consensus 53
 
3.1.2.1 Consensus for Consistent Data Storage 54
 
3.1.2.2 Consensus for Transaction Ordering 56
 
3.1.2.3 Consensus as a Defense Against Bad Actors 56
 
3.1.3 Industrial Case Study 56
 
3.2 Consensus Protocols, Then and Now 57
 
3.2.1 State Machine Replication 57
 
3.2.2 Byzantine Fault Tolerance 59
 
3.2.3 Nakamoto Consensus 60
 
3.2.4 Hybrid Consensus 61
 
3.3 Cryptographic Nakamoto Proofs 62
 
3.3.1 Proof of Work 62
 
3.3.2 Proof of Stake 63
 
3.3.2.1 Chain-Based Proof of Stake 64
 
3.3.3 Proof of Capacity 64
 
3.3.4 Proof of Time 66
 
3.4 Challenges to Scalability 67
 
3.4.1 Communication Complexity 67
 
3.4.2 Asynchronous Context 68
 
3.4.3 Participant Churn 68
 
3.4.4 The Blockchain Scalability Problem 69
 
3.5 Block Size and Propagation 69
 
3.5.1 Larger Blocks 70
 
3.5.2 Shorter Rounds 71
 
3.6 Committees, Groups, and Sharding 71
 
3.6.1 Committees 71
 
3.6.2 Groups 72
 
3.6.3 Sharding 72
 
3.7 Transaction Channels 73
 
3.7.1 Trust-Weighted Agreement 74
 
3.7.2 Off-Chain Transactions 74
 
3.7.3 Lightning Network 75
 
3.8 Checkpointing and Finality Gadgets 76
 
3.8.1 Probabilistic Finality 76
 
3.8.2 Checkpointing 77
 
3.8.3 Finality Gadgets 77
 
3.9 Bootstrapping 78
 
3.9.1 Networking 78
 
3.9.2 Data 79
 
3.10 Future Tre