Dissecting Tendermint

Abstract

In this paper we analyze Tendermint proposed in [7], one of the most popular blockchains based on PBFT Consensus. The current paper dissects Tendermint under various system communication models and Byzantine adversaries. Our methodology consists in identifying the algorithmic principles of Tendermint necessary for a specific combination of communication model-adversary. This methodology allowed to identify bugs [3] in preliminary versions of the protocol ([19], [7]) and to prove its correctness under the most adversarial conditions: an eventually synchronous communication model and asymmetric Byzantine faults.