Descriptor based consensus for blockchain transactions

Abstract

Blockchain networks use consensus mechanisms so participants can exchange transactions without the need to rely on a trusted third party. Consensus mechanisms using Proof of Work burn significant energy to select a block miner and the delay limits performance. Other consensus mechanisms such as Proof of Stake or Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance still designate a single validator to append a block to the chain, preventing blocks from being built and published in parallel. In this paper we introduce a new consensus mechanism, Proof of Descriptor, enabling clients to work together to publish blockchain transactions using a descriptor object which stores information on the cooperative parallel execution of transactions. Proof of Descriptor consensus allows commutative transactions to be mined individually. It does not require a leader to propose the next block, enabling clients to cooperate on completing transactions, assembling blocks and publishing them. We demonstrate that our approach is less prone to attack since it is not vulnerable to a malicious leader, while simulations show a potential 20x improvement over the fastest sequential blockchain, Solana.