Abstract
Blockchain protocols based on Proof-of-Stake (PoS) depend—by nature—on the active participation of stakeholders. If users are offline and abstain from the PoS consensus mechanism, the system’s security is at risk, so it is imperative to explore ways to both maximize the level of participation and minimize the effects of non-participation. One such option is stake representation, such that users can delegate their participation rights and, in the process, form “stake pools”. The core idea is that stake pool operators always participate on behalf of regular users, while the users retain the ownership of their assets. Our work provides a formal PoS wallet construction that enables delegation and stake pool formation. While investigating the construction of addresses in this setting, we distil and explore address malleability, a security property that captures the ability of an attacker to manipulate the delegation information associated with an address. Our analysis consists of identifying multiple levels of malleability, which are taken into account in our paper’s core result. We then introduce the first ideal functionality of a PoS wallet’s core which captures the PoS wallet’s capabilities and is realized as a secure protocol based on standard cryptographic primitives. Finally, consider the wallet core in conjunction with a PoS ledger and investigate how delegation and stake pools affect a PoS system’s security.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Security and Cryptography for Networks |
Subtitle of host publication | 12th International Conference, SCN 2020, Amalfi, Italy, September 14–16, 2020, Proceedings |
Editors | Clemente Galdi, Vladimir Kolesnikov |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 3-23 |
Number of pages | 21 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-030-57990-6 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-3-030-57989-0 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Sept 2020 |
Event | 12th Conference on Security and Cryptography for Networks - Virtual Conference Duration: 14 Sept 2020 → 16 Sept 2020 https://scn.unisa.it/ |
Publication series
Name | Lecture Notes in Computer Science |
---|---|
Publisher | Springer, Cham |
Volume | 12238 |
ISSN (Print) | 0302-9743 |
ISSN (Electronic) | 1611-3349 |
Conference
Conference | 12th Conference on Security and Cryptography for Networks |
---|---|
Abbreviated title | SCN 2020 |
City | Virtual Conference |
Period | 14/09/20 → 16/09/20 |
Internet address |