Rollerblade: Replicated Distributed Protocol Emulation on Top of Ledgers

Dionysis Zindros; Apostolos Tzinas; David Tse

Paper 2024/210

Rollerblade: Replicated Distributed Protocol Emulation on Top of Ledgers

Dionysis Zindros

, Stanford University

Apostolos Tzinas, National Technical University of Athens

David Tse, Stanford University

Abstract

We observe that most fixed-party distributed protocols can be rewritten by replacing a party with a ledger (such as a blockchain system) and the authenticated channel communication between parties with cross-chain relayers. This transform is useful because blockchain systems are always online and have battle-tested security assumptions. We provide a definitional framework that captures this analogy. We model the transform formally, and posit and prove a generic metatheorem that allows translating all theorems from the party setting into theorems in the emulated setting, while preserving analogies between party honesty and ledger security. In the heart of our proof lies a reduction-based simulation argument. As an example, our metatheorem can be used to construct a consensus protocol on top of other blockchains, creating a reliable rollup that assumes only the majority of the underlying layer-1s are secure.

Note: Add acknowledgment of funding

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Cryptographic protocols
Publication info: Preprint.
Keywords: blockchain composability
Contact author(s): dionyziz @ gmail com
tzinas @ tzinas com
dntse @ stanford edu
History: 2024-05-08: revised; 2024-02-11: received; See all versions
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2024/210
License: CC BY-SA

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2024/210,
      author = {Dionysis Zindros and Apostolos Tzinas and David Tse},
      title = {Rollerblade: Replicated Distributed Protocol Emulation on Top of Ledgers},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2024/210},
      year = {2024},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/210}
}