The Meshwork Ledger, its Consensus and Reward Mechanisms
Mayank Raikwar, Danilo Gligoroski · 2021
We propose a new blockchain ledger concept called “Meshwork ledger” and a corresponding consensus algorithm. Meshwork is a network of coequal client nodes that contribute to the endorsement of the transactions by providing digital signatures to a validator node that collects them in an aggregate signature scheme. The essential sustainability component of the ledger is the reward mechanism for the meshwork client nodes. The prime design objective is the coequality of all client nodes, meaning there is no advantage for getting rewards if the client is an early adopter, if the client has collected a significant stake of rewards or if the client just joined the meshwork. The consensus algorithm is based on aggregate multisignatures. A joint aggregate signature on a block of transactions is constructed with the signatures collected from the mesh client nodes in a multi-signature scheme. A signature provided on the block by a client node is acknowledged as approval. The core idea of the consensus is to race for the maximum number of signatures (approvals) on a block from the mesh clients, in order to append the block in the blockchain. The race in the consensus is among particular types of nodes called validator nodes that try to collect a maximum number of approvals (signatures) from the mesh clients. Clients that participated in the aggregate signature organized by the winner validator node get some reward as a small share of the total transaction fee. These reward transactions are performed in an off-chain manner, using a commit-chain. Compared with other blockchain consensus algorithms, the meshwork consensus algorithm is faster, significantly more energy-efficient and scalable.