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A Global Clock Model for the Consortium Blockchains

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Blockchain and Trustworthy Systems (BlockSys 2019)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1156))

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Abstract

We propose a global clock model to achieve time synchronization for consortium blockchains. Based on the existing consortium blockchain framework, a global clock service node is added. We use the Byzantine fault-tolerant algorithm to ensure the stability of the global clock node services. In addition, Cristian and Berkeley time synchronization algorithms are used to improve the confirmation of timestamp information, so as to achieve strong consistency of consensus time. This method can strike a balance between the transaction performance and the timestamp consistency requirements. This method meets the time accuracy requirements of practical business applications, and effectively benefits the promotion of blockchain technology in time-sensitive business scenarios.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The CA node is used for customer authentication and don’t participate in the consensus process. So we don’t give a particular emphasis here.

  2. 2.

    https://github.com/hyperledger/sawtooth-core.

  3. 3.

    https://github.com/hyperledger/iroha.

  4. 4.

    https://github.com/hyperledger/cello.

  5. 5.

    https://github.com/hyperledger/indy-sdk.

  6. 6.

    https://github.com/hyperledger/composer.

  7. 7.

    https://github.com/hyperledger/burrow.

  8. 8.

    https://github.com/libra/libra.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1811462 and 71971081) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IT Department, Head Office of Bank of China LTD., Beijing, 100818, China

    Chao Zan

  2. Department of Finance, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Hai-Chuan Xu

  3. Research Center for Econophysics, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Hai-Chuan Xu

Authors
  1. Chao Zan
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  2. Hai-Chuan Xu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hai-Chuan Xu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Zibin Zheng

  2. Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China

    Hong-Ning Dai

  3. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

    Mingdong Tang

  4. Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Xiangping Chen

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Zan, C., Xu, HC. (2020). A Global Clock Model for the Consortium Blockchains. In: Zheng, Z., Dai, HN., Tang, M., Chen, X. (eds) Blockchain and Trustworthy Systems. BlockSys 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1156. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2777-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2777-7_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-2776-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-2777-7

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