HackerPapers

arXiv:1810.06130cs.CR

On the Origins and Variations of Blockchain Technologies

Alan T. Sherman, Farid Javani, Haibin Zhang, Enis Golaszewski

Abstract

We explore the origins of blockchain technologies to better understand the enduring needs they address. We identify the five key elements of a blockchain, show embodiments of these elements, and examine how these elements come together to yield important properties in selected systems. To facilitate comparing the many variations of blockchains, we also describe the four crucial roles of blockchain participants common to all blockchains. Our historical exploration highlights the 1979 work of David Chaum whose vault system embodies many of the elements of blockchains.

arXiv comments
14 pages, 3 tables, includes all references. A short version with ten references will be submitted to IEEE Security & Privacy in October 2018
Journal reference
DOI
Subjects
cs.CRCryptography and Security

On Hacker News

Linked by 2 identifiable commenters in 2 comments across 2 threads, from Jun 2021 to Apr 2023.

Comments linking this paper, per year.

Discussed in comments2 threads

  1. The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS 1 comment

    • > - Bitcoin doesn't use DHTs. I didn't say it did. But the idea of distributing data in a P2P fashion is not novel. > - The term blockchain was coined after the Bitcoin white paper was published, to describe the mechanism used in Bitcoin. I'm not very interested in the…

      alex_sfView on HNParent context

  2. Requiem for a Bright Idea (1999) 1 comment

    • There is a distinct cypherpunk lineage that we can trace through Chaum and down to Satoshi and beyond. Ref eg: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1810.06130.pdf Chaum didn't invent p2p blockchains but his systems did have ledgers and stuff like anonymous payments between nyms. Yes, the goal…

      xyzzy123View on HNParent context

Submitted to Hacker News

Connected through shared HN threads, not inferred similarity or a recommendation.