Survey of blockchain technology and its advances

ZHU Yan; WANG Qiao-shi; QIN Bo-han; WANG Zhong-hao

doi:10.13374/j.issn2095-9389.2019.03.26.004

Volume 41 Issue 11

Dec. 2019

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ZHU Yan, WANG Qiao-shi, QIN Bo-han, WANG Zhong-hao. Survey of blockchain technology and its advances[J]. Chinese Journal of Engineering, 2019, 41(11): 1361-1373. doi: 10.13374/j.issn2095-9389.2019.03.26.004

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ZHU Yan, WANG Qiao-shi, QIN Bo-han, WANG Zhong-hao. Survey of blockchain technology and its advances[J]. Chinese Journal of Engineering, 2019, 41(11): 1361-1373. doi: 10.13374/j.issn2095-9389.2019.03.26.004

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Survey of blockchain technology and its advances

doi: 10.13374/j.issn2095-9389.2019.03.26.004

School of Computer & Communication Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

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Corresponding author: E-mail: zhuyan@ustb.edu.cn
Received Date: 2019-03-26
Publish Date: 2019-11-01

Abstract

Abstract

With the rapid development of e-commerce and network finance involving the Internet, hundreds of millions of online transactions are being carried out on the Internet every moment. Guaranteeing the security of these transactions and realizing the secure storage, exchange, and sharing of massive transaction data have become paramount. Blockchain is a practical technology recently proposed to solve the above problems. Through P2P network technology, distributed ledger technology, asymmetric cryptography, consensus mechanism, and smart contract technology, blockchains can ensure data integrity, nonrepudiation, privacy, consistency, and other security protections. Hence, it has attracted wide attention from academia and industry in recent years. Starting from the design and demand of blockchains, this paper first expounds the basic concepts, features, and typical architecture in the current blockchains. Taking Bitcoin as an example, this paper also explored the various proposed structures and the corresponding mechanisms, including block storage structure and tamper-proof mechanism, transaction structure and scripting language, trader identification mechanism, and efficient network transaction propagation mechanism. Moreover, several current mainstream blockchain consensus algorithms were described according to the categories of proof-mode, Byzantine-type, traditional consensus, and hybrid consensus. In addition, the latest developments in smart contracts were discussed from some aspects, including concepts, organizational structure, the relationship among modules, as well as execution approaches and processes. Finally, the main security challenges faced by blockchains were summarized in order to systematically grasp the developments and trends of blockchain technology.
- blockchain,
- decentralization,
- consensus algorithm,
- smart contract,
- distributed system

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References(51)

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