Enabling Complete Atomicity for Cross-chain Applications Through Layered State Commitments

Yuandi Cai; Ru Cheng; Yifan Zhou; Shijie Zhang; Jiang Xiao; Hai Jin

Paper 2024/1084

Enabling Complete Atomicity for Cross-chain Applications Through Layered State Commitments

Yuandi Cai

, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Ru Cheng, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Yifan Zhou, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Shijie Zhang, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Jiang Xiao, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Hai Jin, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Abstract

Cross-chain Decentralized Applications (dApps) are increasingly popular for their ability to handle complex tasks across various blockchains, extending beyond simple asset transfers or swaps. However, ensuring all dependent transactions execute correctly together, known as complete atomicity, remains a challenge. Existing works provide financial atomicity, protecting against monetary loss, but lack the ability to ensure correctness for complex tasks. In this paper, we introduce Avalon, a transaction execution framework for cross-chain dApps that guarantees complete atomicity for the first time. Avalon achieves this by introducing multiple state layers above the native one to cache state transitions, allowing for efficient management of these state transitions. Most notably, for concurrent cross-chain transactions, Avalon resolves not only intra-chain conflicts but also addresses potential inconsistencies between blockchains via a novel state synchronization protocol, enabling serializable cross-chain execution. We implement Avalon using smart contracts in Cosmos ecosystem and evaluate its commitment performance, demonstrating acceptable latency and gas consumption even under conflict cases.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Applications
Publication info: Published elsewhere. Minor revision. Proceedings of the 43rd International Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems (SRDS 2024)
Keywords: blockchain interoperability atomicity decentralized application
Contact author(s): yuandicai @ hust edu cn
History: 2024-07-05: approved; 2024-07-03: received; See all versions
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2024/1084
License: CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2024/1084,
      author = {Yuandi Cai and Ru Cheng and Yifan Zhou and Shijie Zhang and Jiang Xiao and Hai Jin},
      title = {Enabling Complete Atomicity for Cross-chain Applications Through Layered State Commitments},
      howpublished = {Cryptology ePrint Archive, Paper 2024/1084},
      year = {2024},
      note = {\url{https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/1084}},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/1084}
}