VeChain & Oxford Announce New Framework to Assess Consensus Protocols

Yesterday, the VeChain Foundation tweeted,

“with the purpose of supporting the #blockchain industry, #VeChain and the University of Oxford releases AlphaBlock – our joint research paper on blockchain consensus”.

In a blog post, VeChain went on to detail the need for its proposed AlfaBlock framework,

“considering the pivotal role of consensus protocols in blockchain systems, the University of Oxford and the VeResearch team jointly published a technical paper which proposes a framework for assessing blockchain consensus protocols.”

The Blockchain Space is Littered With Consensus Designs

While the security of these designs can be analyzed theoretically, there is no recognized way to assess the actual performance of a particular consensus design objectively. According to Vechain,

“this causes a significant problem in the adoption efforts for the blockchain industry.”

The Alphablock framework is a solution in that it allows researchers to compare the overall performance of Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus, Nakamoto Consensus (NC), and other protocols. Critically, it enables blockchain developers to test their consensus designs under different network conditions without actually implementing them. Previously there was no model that let researchers gauge the effectiveness of a blockchain protocol without actually building it. The proposed framework could be a powerful tool for both academia and developers working on “real-world” use.

VeChain Continues to Make Progress

Founded in 2015, Vechain is an ambitious, enterprise-focused project striving to connect blockchain technology to the real world. VeChain describes itself as “an enabler to drive technology implementation that would bring tangible business value for enterprises.” As such, the VeChain Foundation has long been committed to strengthening the consensus of the VeChainThor blockchain. In terms of the underlying crypto, VET was last seen treading water before awaiting the next big move. Per the VeChain post, the work with Oxford University is “just one example of our leadership in the industry.” Plans are in place to extend the scope of Alphablock and further collaborate on other topics like DeFi and blockchain economic models.