Rational vs Byzantine Players in Consensus-based Blockchains
Résumé
We analyze from the game theory point of view Consensus-based
blockchains when participants exhibit rational or Byzantine be-
havior. Our work is the first to model the Byzantine-consensus
based blockchains as a committee coordination game. Our first
contribution is to offer a game-theoretical methodology to an-
alyze equilibrium interactions between Byzantine and rational
committee members in Consensus-based blockchains. Byzantine
participants seek to inflict maximum damage to the system, while
rational participants best-respond to maximize their expected
net gains. Our second contribution is to derive conditions under
which consensus properties are satisfied or not in equilibrium.
When the number of votes required for a decision is lower than
the proportion of Byzantine participants, invalid blocks are ac-
cepted in equilibrium. When the number of votes needed is large,
equilibrium can involve coordination failures, in which no block
is ever accepted. However, when the cost of accepting invalid
blocks is large, there exists an equilibrium in which blocks are
accepted if and only if they are valid.