Reducing Forks in the Blockchain via Probabilistic Verification

Abstract

Blockchain is a disruptive technique that finds many applications in FinTech, IoT, and token economy. Because of the asynchrony of network, the competition of mining, and the nondeterministic block propagation delay, forks in the blockchain occur frequently which not only waste a lot of computing resources but also result in potential security issues. This paper introduces PvScheme, a probabilistic verification scheme that can effectively reduce the block propagation delay and hence reduce the occurrence of blockchain forks. We further enhance the security of PvScheme to provide reliable block delivery. We also analyze the resistance of PvScheme to fake blocks and double spending attacks. The results of several comparative experiments show that our scheme can indeed reduce forks and improve the blockchain performance.