DAGsim: Simulation of DAG-based distributed ledger protocols

Manuel Zander; Tom Waite; Dominik Harz

Paper 2018/1062

DAGsim: Simulation of DAG-based distributed ledger protocols

Manuel Zander, Tom Waite, and Dominik Harz

Abstract

Scalability of distributed ledgers is a key adoption factor. As an alternative to blockchain-based protocols, directed acyclic graph (DAG) protocols are proposed with the intention to allow a higher volume of transactions to be processed. However, there is still limited understanding of the behaviour and security considerations of DAG-based systems. We present an asynchronous, continuous time, and multi-agent simulation framework for DAG-based cryptocurrencies. We model honest and semi-honest actors in the system to analyse the behaviour of one specific cryptocurrency, IOTA. Our simulations show that the agents that have low latency and a high connection degree have a higher probability of having their transactions accepted in the network with honest and semi-honest strategies. Last, the simulator is built with extensibility in mind. We are in the process of implementing SPECTRE as well as including malicious agents.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Applications
Publication info: Published elsewhere. Symposium on Cryptocurrency Analysis (SOCCA) 2018
Keywords: implementation simulation cryptocurrencies DAG
Contact author(s): d harz @ imperial ac uk
History: 2018-11-09: received
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2018/1062
License: CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2018/1062,
      author = {Manuel Zander and Tom Waite and Dominik Harz},
      title = {{DAGsim}: Simulation of {DAG}-based distributed ledger protocols},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2018/1062},
      year = {2018},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/1062}
}