An Experimental Investigation Into the Hash Functions Used in Blockchains

Abstract

This article investigates how choosing a different hash function might affect the overall performance of a blockchain. We focus on the selection of hash function for Ethereum and carry out extensive experiments to evaluate the performance change after the replacement of hash function. Our findings indicate that some performance metrics of a blockchain might be significantly affected by the hash function used. This suggests that selection of a specific hash function may not be a trivial decision for designing a blockchain.