Tyranny of the majority: On the (Im)possibility of correctness of smart contracts

Lin Chen; Lei Xu; Zhimin Gao; Yang Lu; Weidong Shi

doi:10.1109/MSP.2018.3111240

Tyranny of the majority: On the (Im)possibility of correctness of smart contracts

Lin Chen, Lei Xu, Zhimin Gao, Yang Lu, Weidong Shi

Computer Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many consensus protocols are based on the assumption that participants are either 'good' or 'bad' but ignore the fact that they may be affected by direct or indirect economic interests involved in the corresponding smart contracts. We analyze consensus in decentralized environments and demonstrate that the system cannot guarantee correct execution results.

Original language	English
Article number	8425620
Pages (from-to)	30-37
Number of pages	8
Journal	IEEE Security and Privacy
Volume	16
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/MSP.2018.3111240
State	Published - Jul 1 2018

Keywords

blockchain
blockchain security and privacy
equilibrium
security
smart contract

Access to Document

10.1109/MSP.2018.3111240

Cite this

@article{bdeff0f77f804082b6c6ee89cb12c3cc,

title = "Tyranny of the majority: On the (Im)possibility of correctness of smart contracts",

abstract = "Many consensus protocols are based on the assumption that participants are either 'good' or 'bad' but ignore the fact that they may be affected by direct or indirect economic interests involved in the corresponding smart contracts. We analyze consensus in decentralized environments and demonstrate that the system cannot guarantee correct execution results.",

keywords = "blockchain, blockchain security and privacy, equilibrium, security, smart contract",

author = "Lin Chen and Lei Xu and Zhimin Gao and Yang Lu and Weidong Shi",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2003-2012 IEEE.",

year = "2018",

month = jul,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1109/MSP.2018.3111240",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

pages = "30--37",

journal = "IEEE Security and Privacy",

issn = "1540-7993",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tyranny of the majority

T2 - On the (Im)possibility of correctness of smart contracts

AU - Chen, Lin

AU - Xu, Lei

AU - Gao, Zhimin

AU - Lu, Yang

AU - Shi, Weidong

PY - 2018/7/1

Y1 - 2018/7/1

N2 - Many consensus protocols are based on the assumption that participants are either 'good' or 'bad' but ignore the fact that they may be affected by direct or indirect economic interests involved in the corresponding smart contracts. We analyze consensus in decentralized environments and demonstrate that the system cannot guarantee correct execution results.

AB - Many consensus protocols are based on the assumption that participants are either 'good' or 'bad' but ignore the fact that they may be affected by direct or indirect economic interests involved in the corresponding smart contracts. We analyze consensus in decentralized environments and demonstrate that the system cannot guarantee correct execution results.

KW - blockchain

KW - blockchain security and privacy

KW - equilibrium

KW - security

KW - smart contract

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051170033&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/MSP.2018.3111240

DO - 10.1109/MSP.2018.3111240

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85051170033

SN - 1540-7993

VL - 16

SP - 30

EP - 37

JO - IEEE Security and Privacy

JF - IEEE Security and Privacy

IS - 4

M1 - 8425620

ER -

Tyranny of the majority: On the (Im)possibility of correctness of smart contracts

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this