On asynchronous proactive threshold cryptosystems and BFT consensus scalability.

Thu 11Apr2019

Chrysoula Stathakopoulou , ETH Zurich

From 12.00 until 13.30

At CNB/F/110 (Lunch) + CAB/F/100.9 (Seminar), ETH Zurich

Universitätstrasse 6, 8092 Zurich

Abstract:

The first part of this talk introduces PROTECT, a Platform for Robust Threshold Cryptography. The design of Threshold and Proactive cryptographic systems has received attention in recently due to the rise of cloud services, blockchain and crypto-currency technologies. However the bulk of literature in the threshold cryptography area assumes synchronous networks. The goal in this work is to develop protocols that work in a realistic asynchronous setting while at the same time enjoy some of the better resilience properties of synchronous schemes.


The second part of this talk focuses on the heart of blockchain systems, the consensus protocol. We will examine Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus protocols which apply to permissioned blockchain systems but also to permissionless PoW systems such as Algorand. We will discuss the limitations of the state of the art and tackle the elephant in the room, scalability.

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