Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:48:38.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cross-chain interoperability among blockchain-based systems using transactions

Part of: Distributed Ledger Technologies: Papers Arising from Three Australian Symposia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2020

Babu Pillai Open the ORCID record for Babu Pillai [Opens in a new window] ,
Kamanashis Biswas Open the ORCID record for Kamanashis Biswas [Opens in a new window]  and
Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy
Babu Pillai
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
Kamanashis Biswas
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia e-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The blockchain is an emerging technology which has the potential to improve many information systems. In this regard, the applications and the platform they are built on must be able to connect and communicate with each other. However, the current blockchain platforms have several limitations, such as lack of interoperability among different systems. The existing platforms of blockchain applications operate only within their own networks. Even though the underlying technology is similar, it relies on centralized third-party mediators to exchange or retrieve information from other blockchain networks. The current third-party intermediaries establish trust and security by preserving a centralized ledger to track ‘account balances’ and vouch for a transaction’s authenticity. The inability for independent blockchains to communicate with one another is an inherent problem in the decentralized systems. Lack of appropriate inter-blockchain communication puts a strain on the mainstream adoption of blockchain. It is evident that blockchain technology has the potential to become a suitable solution for some systems if it can scale and is able to cross communicate with other systems. For the multisystem blockchain concept to become a reality, a mechanism is required that would connect and communicate with multiple entities’ blockchain systems in a distributed fashion (without any intermediary), while maintaining the property of trust and integrity built by individual blockchains. In this article, we propose a mechanism that provides cross-chain interoperability using transactions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 35 , 2020 , e23
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alqassem, I. & Svetinovic, D. 2014. Towards reference architecture for cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin architectural analysis. Paper presented at the Internet of Things (iThings), 2014 IEEE International Conference on, and Green Computing and Communications (GreenCom), IEEE and Cyber, Physical and Social Computing (CPSCom), IEEE.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahri, L. & Girdzijauskas, S. 2019. Blockchain Technology: Practical P2P Computing (Tutorial). Paper presented at the 2019 IEEE 4th International Workshops on Foundations and Applications of Self* Systems (FAS* W).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buterin, V. 2016. Chain interoperability. R3 Research Paper, 2018(12 June).Google Scholar
de Kruijff, J. & Weigand, H. 2017. Understanding the blockchain using enterprise ontology. Paper presented at the International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delmolino, K., Arnett, M., Kosba, A., Miller, A. & Shi, E. 2016. Step by step towards creating a safe smart contract: Lessons and insights from a cryptocurrency lab. Paper presented at the International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, D., Duan, T., Jia, L., Li, K., Li, Z. & Sun, Y. InterChain: A Framework to Support Blockchain Interoperability, accessed 12 march 2020. URL: https://conferences.sigcomm.org/events/apnet2018/posters/6.pdf.Google Scholar
Geraci, A., Katki, F., McMonegal, L., Meyer, B., Lane, J., Wilson, P., … Springsteel, F. 1991. IEEE standard computer dictionary: Compilation of IEEE standard computer glossaries: IEEE Press.Google Scholar
Greenspan, G. 2015. Multichain private blockchain-white paper. URl: http://www.multichain.com/download/MultiChain-White-Paper.pdfGoogle Scholar
Hardjono, T., Lipton, A. & Pentland, A. J. A. P. A. 2018. Towards a Design Philosophy for Interoperable Blockchain Systems.Google Scholar
Hileman, G. & Rauchs, M. 2017. 2017 Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research NetworkCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Käll, J. 2018. Blockchain control. Law and Critique, 29(2), 133–140. doi:10.1007/s10978-018-9227-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kan, L., Wei, Y., Muhammad, A. H., Siyuan, W., Linchao, G. & Kai, H. 2018. A Multiple Blockchains Architecture on Inter-Blockchain Communication. Paper presented at the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion (QRS-C).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwon, J. J. D. v., fall. 2014. Tendermint: Consensus without mining.Google Scholar
Li, W., Sforzin, A., Fedorov, S. & Karame, G. O. 2017. Towards scalable and private industrial blockchains. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the ACM Workshop on Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Contracts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Z., Xiang, Y., Shi, J., Gao, P., Wang, H., Xiao, X., … Hu, Y.-C. 2019. Hyperservice: Interoperability and programmability across heterogeneous blockchains. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2019 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pillai, B., Biswas, K. & Muthukkumarasamy, V. 2019. Blockchain Interoperable Digital Objects. Paper presented at the International Conference on Blockchain.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sklaroff, J. M. 2017. Smart contracts and the cost of inflexibility. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 166(1), 263.Google Scholar
Tasca, P. & Tessone, C. J. 2017. Taxonomy of blockchain technologies. Principles of identification and classification. arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.04872.Google Scholar
Vernadat, F. 2006. Interoperable enterprise systems: architectures and methods. IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 39(3), 13–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, H., Cen, Y. & Li, X. 2017. Blockchain router: A cross-chain communication protocol. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Informatics, Environment, Energy and Applications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, I., Lu, Q., Tran, A. B., Deshmukh, A., Gorski, M. & Strazds, M. 2019. A platform architecture for multi-tenant blockchain-based systems. Paper presented at the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, X., Weber, I., Staples, M., Zhu, L., Bosch, J., Bass, L., … Rimba, P. 2017. A taxonomy of blockchain-based systems for architecture design. Paper presented at the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zheng, Z., Xie, S., Dai, H.-N. & Wang, H. 2016. Blockchain challenges and opportunities: A survey. Work Pap.–2016.Google Scholar
Zheng, Z., Xie, S., Dai, H., Chen, X. & Wang, H. 2017. An overview of blockchain technology: Architecture, consensus, and future trends. Paper presented at the Big Data 2017 IEEE International Congress on (BigData Congress).CrossRefGoogle Scholar