1. Technical Analysis of Established Blockchain Systems
Florian Haffke, , Munich

2. Established Blockchain Systems Research Questions & Timeline
Outline
Motivation
Research Approach
Established Blockchain Systems
Research Questions & Timeline
Example Analysis
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3. Motivation GoogleSearch Blockchain Total Market-Cap
Blockchains’ Cryptocurrencies
Distributed Data Storage System -> Currency Application suitable feature
Graphic Sources:
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4. Motivation How to define the term Blockchain?
Distributed Database Structure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Header
Data
Time
vs. The System
Coded Protocol on P2P Network specifying Layers’ communication
-Distributed database used to maintain a continuously growing list of records, called blocks
-Each block contains Hashpointer (Timestamp + link to previous block + Nonce + Data)
-Secure by Design
-Goal: continuous real-time decentralized Consensus -> Tamperproof Validation of Data at Time
-Network Layer, Internet Layer (IP), Transport Layer (TCP), Application Layer (P2P-Model, DNS, HTTP)
Image Source:
-Blockchain vs distributed ledger systems/technology
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5. Established Blockchain Systems Research Questions & Timeline
Outline
Motivation
Research Approach
Established Blockchain Systems
Research Questions & Timeline
Example Analysis
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6. Identify established Blockchains
Research Approach
Identify established Blockchains
Literature Review
Criteria for qualitative Analysis
Analyze and Compare
Formal Specifications and Code
Architectural Structure on different Layers
Research Questions’ Artefacts A B
-Theoretical Approach
-Focus on Technical Level not Use Case derived
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7. Established Blockchain Systems Research Questions & Timeline
Outline
Motivation
Research Approach
Established Blockchain Systems
Research Questions & Timeline
Example Analysis
Haffke KickOff Master’s Thesis
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8. Established Blockchain Systems
How to identify the most established Blockchains?
Criteria
Metric [Unit]
Supporting Community
Reddit Subscribers [#]
Development Support
Activity in Public Source Code Repos [#]
Longevity
Age since Initial Release Date [Years]
Network Activity
Transactions [# per Day]
Investor Evaluation
Market cap of native currency [Bn$]
Public Awareness and Interest
Alexa Rank [#]
Technical Uniqueness of Protocol
Ordered Attribute Scale [1..5]
Application Ecosystem
-Quantitative Criteria, but Qualitive Approach and Decision due to Non-independent Variables
-Aggregate data from several snapshots at different times
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9. Established Blockchain Systems
Relative Comparison
Criteria
Metric [Unit]
Supporting Community
Reddit Subscribers [#]
Development Support
Activity in Public Source Code Repos [#]
Longevity
Age since Initial Release Date [Years]
Network Activity
Transactions [# per Day]
15.000 9
-Hyperledger Project private Blockchains (company Linux Foundation, IBM)
-See detailed Table in Appendix
Bitcoin
Litecoin
Ethereum
Hyperledger Project
Ripple
Zcash
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10. Established Blockchain Systems
Relative Comparison
Criteria
Metric [Unit]
Investor Evaluation
Market cap of native currency [Bn$]
Public Awareness and Interest
Alexa Rank [#]
Technical Uniqueness of Protocol
Ordered Attribute Scale [1..5]
Application Ecosystem 42
130000
6.000
Very Low (1)
Very High (5)
Very Few (1)
Very Many (5)
-See detailed Table in Appendix
Bitcoin
Litecoin
Ethereum
Hyperledger Project
Ripple
Zcash
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11. Established Blockchain Systems
Further minor established Blockchains with unique Concepts
DASH
Tiered P2P Network with Masternodes
Onmi Layer, Counterparty
Bitcoin Extension Protocols
Monero
Complete Privacy & Intransparency with Ring Signatures
Steemit
Social Media Platform with DPoS
BitShares
Asset Decentralisation with DPoS
DPoS = Delegated Proof of Stake
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12. Established Blockchain Systems Research Questions & Timeline
Outline
Motivation
Research Approach
Established Blockchain Systems
Research Questions & Timeline
Example Analysis
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13. Research Questions and Approach
Elements & Properties
Conceptual High Level Model
1. What are crucial Elements and Characteristics of all established Blockchains?
Morphological Analysis
Common Patterns
2. How can a Design Space of Blockchains be defined? 1)
-Question and Scrutinize everything: Hash Pointer Chain (Different Algorithms), Digital Signature, Distributed Consensus, P2P Network (TCP/IP as given Standard, but IPv4, IPv6, Onion Addresses (Tor) all in Bitcoin -> Question), Randomizer, Outside Access etc.
-Architectural Structure & Relations -> High Level Depiction Model of „Minimal BLC“ 2)
-Attribute Definitions & Parameters… Morphological Box… Classification in Categories, including established Systems
-Issues: Scalabilty, Energy Consumption, Access, Correlations
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14. Research Questions and Approach
Archievements of Blockchains
Requirements of Applications & Use Cases
Disruptiveness of Blockchain
Business Models
3. What are suitable Applications and Use Cases for Blockchain Systems?
Game theoretical Analysis
Implications for the Absence of a native Currency
4. What Role does a native Currency have for its Blockchain? 3)
-Achievements of Blockchains
?Validation of Content (Hash) at ordered Time (Block)
?Pseudoanonymous Ownership
?Distributed Replication in Live
?Middleman
-> Requirements of Applications & UseCases Analysis
List of Metrics
-Applications & UseCases Diagram
?Cryptocurrencies
Borderless Payment System
Financial Asset Class
?Crowdfunding, Share and Capital Structure
?Recording
Provenance, Supply Chain
?Identity Management
?Voting
-Christensen's Criteria
-Business Models for Blockchain Systems
?ICOs
?Micropayments
?Read&Write Service Fees
?Complexity Management Service – Handling Private Keys
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15. 1+2. Blockchains & Design Space
Timeline
May
June
July
August
September
October
Literature & Research
1+2. Blockchains & Design Space
3. Apps & Use Cases
4. Currency
Writing
Today
Official Start Date: Official End Date: Supervisor: Patrick Holl
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16. Established Blockchain Systems Research Questions & Timeline
Outline
Motivation
Research Approach
Established Blockchain Systems
Research Questions & Timeline
Example Analysis
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17. Example Analysis Process
The Bitcoin Protocol in 3 Slides – Joining and Leaving the Network
Protocol Code
Nodes in P2P Network ?
New Node 1)
-Bitcoin Core (C++) Software Download from Website or Private (http …www)
-Unstructured P2P Network around the Globe ~6.000 active Full Nodes > Temporarily/Light Nodes 2)
-Network Communication Layer
-Normal Peer Discovery Process over DNS Services (Voluntarily), Hard Coded Seed(IPs) last Release in Client Software, Console Import Function or Local Table Storage if second
-> Ongoing addr messages -> Relay/Propagation of Addresses, but Local Reputation System for Spam 3)
-Leaving is trivial
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18. Example Analysis Process
The Bitcoin Protocol in 3 Slides – Data Propagation Tx
Active Node 1)
-Synchronizing -> Check all Blocks (Headers) and Data for Validation (Help with Checkpoints) 2)
-Data = Stack-based Transaction Scripts & Overhead for P2P
-Blocks are propagated same way
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19. Example Analysis Process
The Bitcoin Protocol in 3 Slides – Transaction Graph 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Header
Data
Time
-Abstract data layer -> Notion of Global Logical Time in Live (~8 min Intervals in Bitcoin)
-Rule longest Chain is valid
-UTXO = Unspent Transaction Output
Source:
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20. Example Analysis Process
The Bitcoin Protocol in 3 Slides – Consensus Algorithm: Proof of Work
-Merkle Hash Tree
-Proof of Work is piece of data which is difficult (costly, time-consuming) to produce but easy to verify and which satisfies certain requirements.
-Bitcoin uses Hashcash PoW system. Hashing Algorithm Schemes: (double) SHA-256 or others (Scrypt in Ltc, Quark…)
-Bitcoins Requirement: Hash-Value < Threshold Value
-Threshold Value difficulty retargets periodically to adjust to 10 min goal time for total network to computer next block
-Process of adding new blocks is called Mining -> Right for New coins creations in Coinbase-Transaction
-Asics(Btc), GPU(Eth), CPU(Monero) Mining
-Attacks etc.
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21. Example Analysis Process
The Ripple Consensus Algorithm (RPCA) vs. Bitcoins’ PoW
RPCA main Differences to PoW
10s Round based
2s Window to compare List of collected Txn = Candidate Set
Repeat if >80% of Nodes have same Candidate Set
then finalize Consensus and create Block
else add missing Txn to Candidate Set
P2P Network permissioned with Whitelist of Banks and Gateways
Trustlines with Balance-based IOU Assets, like $ or €
Problem Cases
Without Consensus the Protocol falls into infinity loop
Bitcoins’ PoW would fork the chain with different Consensuses
-Database abstraction layer -> but in Thesis Ripple also more technical Comparison on lower level 2)
-P2P Network resembles Client-Server, since more User than Nodes and User is dependent of Node (UNL = Unique Node List)
-Gateway is business that professionally issues IOUs, and bridges between Ripple network and traditional financial system
-> Less anonymity 3)
-IOU = I owe You (more of a credit based system than debit based) -> Fiat Currencies
-XRP as spam prevention (20 XRP locked Deposit for each account)
Differences -> Implications?
Sources:
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22. Example Analysis Process
Bitcoins’ Address System vs. Ethereums’ Account Balances
Bitcoins’ Address System
Trapdoor Function
Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm
Human used
Public Key serves as Address
Example Private Key: L1aW4aubDFB7yfras2S1mN3bqg9nwySY8nkoLmJebSLD5BWv3ENZ
Corresponding Public Key: 1HgiEYL6fsKrfh8wuMhAGfvSc6PY5ZXJdv
Ethereums’ Account Balances
Similar to Bitcoin, but Account Objects are stored in Blockchain
Either Human used
Or Smart Contracts
Persistent Variables in Key/Value Store
Quasi Turing Complete instead of Stack-based
Account
Address
Ether Balance
? Contract Code
? Storage
Nonce
-Communication with Outside 1)
-Cryptographic algorithm -> Private Key(32 bytes secret number), Public Key(Compressed 33 bytes) and Signature(either 73, 72, or 71 bytes long)
-The signature itself is two numbers known as r and s -> PubKey to determine if genuine sign
-Secp256k1 refers to the parameters of the ECDSA curve used in Bitcoin
-ECDSA is widely used signature scheme, which offers security due to difficulty of the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem
-Base58Check encoding: binary-to-text encoding 2)
-Same as Bitcoin, but Keccak-256 (Which is family of SHA-3) to derive Address(20 Byte) from PubKey
-Nonce to make sure Txn are only processed once
-EVM(Execution Model) to execute Automated Smart Contract Accounts -> Transitions to new State
-Halting Problem solved with Gas as Txn internal fee to buy Computational Power with Ether
Sources: -
-Ethereum Yellow -
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23. Thanks for your Attention
Please provide Input and Feedback! 
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24. B.Sc. Information Systems
Florian Haffke

25. Appendix
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26. Established Blockchain Systems
How to identify the most established Blockchains? – Data Snapshot
Criteria
Metric [Unit]
Bitcoin
Litecoin
Ethereum
Hyperledger Project
Ripple
Zcash
Supporting Community
Reddit Subscribers [#]
39.602
85.636
---
Linux Foundation, IBM
14.882
3459
Development Support
Activity in Public Source Code Repos [#]
14.090
1.484
5.671
1.428
2556
Longevity
Age since Initial Release Date [Years]
01-200
(8,5)
(6)
(2)
(1,5)
(4,5)
(1)
Network Activity
Transactions [# per Day]
17.300
Investor Evaluation
Market cap of native currency [Bn$] 42
2,5 25 10
0,4
Public Awareness and Interest
Alexa Rank [#]
6.880
62.478
7.156
12.697
20.214
Technical Uniqueness of Protocol
Ordered Attribute Scale [1..5]
Very High,
First Mover
(5)
Low,
Bitcoin Clone (2)
High,
Parts of Bitcoin
(4)
Application Ecosystem
Very Many
Middle (3)
Many (4)
Few (2)
-Resources for Criteria:
-Snapshot Date: , Numbers partly rounded
-Activity in Public Source Code Repos = Forks, Watchers, Issues, Commits
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27. Transaction Structure
Narayanan, A., Bonneau, J., Felten, E., Miller, A., Goldfeder, S., (2016): Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Princeton University Press @
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28. Block Header Structure
Narayanan, A., Bonneau, J., Felten, E., Miller, A., Goldfeder, S., (2016): Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Princeton University Press @
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29. Block Header Structure
Narayanan, A., Bonneau, J., Felten, E., Miller, A., Goldfeder, S., (2016): Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Princeton University Press @
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