Standardized Blockchain Structure using TLV-Encoding for Large-scale Interoperability

Abstract

Blockchain systems have seen extensive research and adoption. However, its standardization remains challenging, hindering seamless interoperability and value transfer across diverse blockchain ecosystems. In addition, merging or conversion of heterogeneous chains in large-scale systems is impossible due to extensive variations in the fields and structures of the blocks. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a solution based on a unified and standardized representation of different BC ledgers. The proposed approach employs Type-Length-Value (TLV) encoding to facilitate a unified block structure. This mechanism allows the translation or conversion of existing blocks, merging heterogeneous chains, and creating hybrid chains with diverse block and transaction structures. Hence, facilitating large-scale interoperability among existing and new blockchain systems. Prototype implementation shows that the proposed mechanism is self-sustaining and has negligible processing and storage impact on distributed ledgers.