Blockchain-State-of-the-Art

“Blockchain State-of-the-Art” is a comprehensive report on the current status of core blockchain technologies, including but not limited to consensus algorithms, cryptoeconomics, and scaling solutions

I. Background

The pace of innovation in the Blockchain industry is breathtaking. It is almost impossible for anyone to catch up with all the recent developments happening in the industry due to the sheer amount of works being done by highly intelligent and curious minds all over the world. Thus, we at the differential research felt the need for a comprehensive guide to the current state-of-the-art of core blockchain technologies.

II. Overview

We propose to write a “Blockchain State-of-the-Art”, a comprehensive report on the current status of core blockchain technologies, including but not limited to consensus algorithms, cryptoeconomics, and scaling solutions (for specific areas of research, see IV. Areas of Research). You can think of it as a literature review on a specific topic related to blockchain written in a more formatted and rigorous manner. Through the report, we aim to:

• contribute to a better collective understanding of core blockchain technologies, their potentials and limitations
• help other researchers and developers navigate through highly complicated blockchain space
• establish a foothold for further research and development

Research will be done in a permission-less and decentralized fashion (see V. About differential for our philosophy). Anyone could participate as a researcher as long as he/she can provide the proof-of-work. We expect the report to be dynamically updated on a rolling basis as we get contributions from the distributed network of researchers.

III. Research Process

Researchers are encouraged to freely explore different topics until they find the ones that they truly enjoy studying. Once researchers find what they like, they could submit research proposals, detailing their research plans. Upon the acceptance of the proposal, one could start a research, with occasional peer-review and discussion sessions where their works are reviewed and their proof-of-work judged. Below are the detailed research application and review processes:

1. Freely explore and find what you love
2. Identify key ideas and theses
3. Submit a research proposal to the maintainer (or group of maintainers). Submitted proposal will be reviewed by the maintainer on the basis of its depth and relevance as well as the ability of a researcher to conduct research as proposed. It is expected that there will be rounds of communications between researchers and maintainers when agreeing on the details of the proposal (See APPENDIX A. Research Proposal Form)
4. Read and analyze the theses and codes
5. Make a progress presentation with a peer-review & discussion session where your proof-of-work will be validated
6. Publish a final report
7. Have a presentation session and discuss further areas of study

IV. Areas of Research

Below are the possible areas of research. Items in the list are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The list will be regularly updated to reflect major trends in the development of blockchain technology.

• Consensus Algorithm
  • Proof of Work and its variants
  • Proof of Stake and its variants
  • PBFT and its variants (e.g. Raft, Paxos)
  • Others (e.g. PoI, PoST)
• Cryptoeconomics & Incentive Design
• Privacy
• Scalability
  • Sharding
  • Plasma
  • Sidechain
  • Layer 2 solutions (e.g. Lightning Network, Raiden)
• Blockchain Interoperability
• Peer-to-peer Network
• Smart Contract
• Cryptoasset Classification & Valuation
• Governance & Meta-consensus
• Other Related Fields
  • Cryptography
  • Game Theory
  • Distributed Systems
  • Virtual Machine
  • Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence
• Other Interesting Topics
  • stablecoin
  • decentralized storage & computation
• History, Economics, Politics, Philosophy and Sociology

V. About differential

differential is a decentralized network of developers, researchers, and analysts. Our mode of operation faithfully follows the principles of decentralization, permission-less-ness, and proof-of-work. Decentralization and permission-less-ness guarantee that anyone can participate as a researcher at differential while strong proof-of-work ensures that the quality of their works remain high. We are dedicated to the deep understanding of the fundamental technologies driving the decentralization.