The rapid evolution of blockchain technology has brought together stakeholders from fundamentally different backgrounds. The result is a diverse ecosystem, as exemplified by the development of a wide range of different blockchain protocols. This raises questions for decision and policy makers: How do different protocols compare? What are their trade-offs? Existing efforts to survey the area reveal a fragmented terminology and the lack of a unified framework to reason about the properties of blockchain protocols. In this paper, we work towards bridging this gap. We present a five-dimensional design space with a modular structure in which protocols can be compared and understood. Based on these five axes -- Optimality, Stability, Efficiency, Robustness and Persistence -- we organize the properties of existing protocols in subcategories of increasing granularity. The result is a dynamic scheme -- termed the PREStO framework -- which aids the interaction between stakeholders of different backgrounds, including managers and investors, and which enables systematic reasoning about blockchain protocols. We illustrate its value by comparing existing protocols and identifying research challenges, hence making a first step towards understanding the blockchain ecosystem through a more comprehensive lens.
翻译:块链技术的迅速演变使来自根本不同背景的利益攸关方聚集在一起。结果是一个多样化的生态系统,这表现在一系列不同的块链协议的开发上。这给决策者提出了问题:不同的协议如何比较?它们之间的权衡是什么?现有的调查努力揭示出一个支离破碎的术语和缺乏一个统一框架来解释块链协议的特性。在本文件中,我们努力缩小这一差距。我们提出了一个五维的设计空间,其模块结构可以比较和理解协议。根据这五个轴线 -- -- 优化、稳定、效率、强健和持久性 -- -- 我们把现有协议的特性组织在增加颗粒性的子类中。结果是一个动态计划 -- -- 称为PREStO框架 -- -- 帮助不同背景的利益攸关方(包括管理人员和投资者)之间的互动,从而能够系统地解释链协议。我们通过比较现有的协议和确定研究挑战来说明其价值,从而迈出第一步,通过更全面的视角来理解块链生态系统。