Quantifying Blockchain Immutability Over Time

Abstract

Immutability is a term used a lot in blockchain and cryptocurrency development when attemptingto analyze the economic interpretation of a network. Designs like the 21 million Bitcoin supply in BTC or incidents like the DAO fork bailout that split the Ethereum community into ETH and ETC are major examples of immutability values determining the ethos of a chain. This research sets out tocategorize different features of blockchain immutability and analyze them in three different networks: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Further in the paper, the Finney Ratio is introduced to help understand how blockchain immutability can be measured over time. The paper then visualizes overall blockchain immutability over time using radar charts as an immutability map. The Szabo Score is then introduced as a tool to score overall mutability over time for each blockchain.