Simulating an Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain Network

Abstract

In this contribution, we present a simulator for the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain Network. The purpose of this tool is to run various simulations to verify hypotheses and attack scenarios without the need to actually stake cryptocurrency and fulfilling validator's obligations inside the network. Because its codebase is derived from the official specification, functionality such as the fork choice rule and finality mechanisms are guaran-teed to match the behavior of conforming client implementations. Basic metrics about the live Beacon Chain network were collected and used as an input to the conducted simulations and to verify the obtained simulation results. We find that the results of conducted simulations show great correspondence to the behavior of the live Beacon Chain. We further implement various kinds of misbehavior to verify that misbehaving validators are slashed and deprived of their invested capital. Finally, two attacks are implemented to demonstrate how the simulator can be used to verify and test the applicability of various attack scenarios.