e-PoS: Making Proof-of-Stake Decentralized and Fair

• Published in: IEEE transactions on parallel and distributed systems Vol. 32; no. 8; pp. 1961 - 1973
• Main Authors: Saad, Muhammad, Qin, Zhan, Ren, Kui, Nyang, DaeHun, Mohaisen, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.08.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bitcoin; Blockchain; Blockchains; Complexity theory; Consensus protocol; consensus protocols; Cryptography; Data mining; Protocol (computers); Smart contracts; Stakeholders
• ISSN: 1045-9219; 1558-2183
• DOI: 10.1109/TPDS.2020.3048853

Blockchain applications that rely on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) have increasingly become energy inefficient with a staggering carbon footprint. In contrast, energy efficient alternative consensus protocols such as Proof-of-Stake (PoS) may cause centralization and unfairness in the blockchain system. To address these challenges, we propose a modular version of PoS-based blockchain systems called e-PoS that resists the centralization of network resources by extending mining opportunities to a wider set of stakeholders. Moreover, e-PoS leverages the in-built system operations to promote fair mining practices by penalizing malicious entities. We validate e-PoS 's achievable objectives through theoretical analysis and simulations. Our results show that e-PoS ensures fairness and decentralization, and can be applied to existing blockchain applications.