Special Crypto/Blockchain Seminar
— 4:00pm
Location:
In Person
-
Mehrabian Collaborative Innovation Center 1301
Speaker:
JOACHIM NEU
,
Ph.D. Student
Department of Electrical Engineering
Stanford University
https://www.jneu.net/
Ethereum After The Merge: Is It Still Secure?
The transition of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake is a major feat of engineering. Yet, regrettably from a blockchain science point of view, Ethereum went from a protocol with a security proof to one without. Furthermore, the current protocol is complex, and has already been through multiple cycles of attacks and patches (on the protocol itself, not “only” on the implementation). Why is this so? Ethereum aims to satisfy an ambitious list of desiderata, some of which have never been achieved simultaneously before. We present two examples with recent progress: First, our ebb-and-flow protocols and accountability gadgets offer a way to reconcile accountable safety and liveness in an environment with dynamic participation. Second, we propose Goldfish, a simple and provably secure drop-in replacement for Ethereum’s current fork-choice rule, that achieves resilience to chain reorganizations under dynamic participation. Key Papers:- Ebb-and-Flow Protocols: A Resolution of the Availability-Finality Dilemma
- The Availability-Accountability Dilemma and its Resolution via Accountability Gadgets
- No More Attacks on Proof-of-Stake Ethereum?