Challenges of PBFT-Inspired Consensus for Blockchain and Enhancements over Neo dBFT

Abstract

Consensus mechanisms are a core feature for handling negotiation and agreements. Blockchain technology has seen the introduction of different sorts of consensus mechanism, ranging from tasks of heavy computation to the subtle mathematical proofs of Byzantine agreements. This paper presents the pioneer Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT) protocol of Neo Blockchain, which was inspired by the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT). Besides introducing its history, this study describes proofs and didactic examples, as well as novel design and extensions for Neo dBFT with multiple block proposals. Finally, we discuss challenges when dealing with strong Byzantine adversaries, and propose solutions inspired on PBFT for current weak-synchrony problems and increasing system robustness against attacks. Key Contribution: Presents an overview of the history of PBFT-inspired consensus for blockchain, highlighting its current importance on the literature, challenges and assumptions. Contributes to the field of Distributed Consensus, proposing novel extensions for the Neo dBFT (dBFT 2.0+, dBFT 3.0 and dBFT 3.0+), with new insights on innovative consensus mechanisms.