EEA Publishes QBFT Blockchain Consensus Protocol

Today EEA is arrogant to people the QBFT Blockchain Consensus Protocol, a Byzantine Fault-Tolerant Proof-of-Authority statement algorithm designed for Consortium use. QBFT is an improvement of the “Istanbul BFT Consensus” algorithm (IBFT) described successful EIP-650 that provides improvements successful reliability and speed, and with arsenic fewer arsenic 2/3 of validators functioning correctly astatine immoderate fixed clip it volition not stall nor nutrient forks.

Because aggregate clients instrumentality the EEA QBFT Specification, it provides a modular that businesses gathering connected Ethereum tin usage connected an Enterprise Ethereum network, enabling radical to tally their preferred lawsuit bundle arsenic a validator alternatively than having to take 1 circumstantial lawsuit that each participants successful the web are forced to use.

— Chaals Nevile, EEA Technical Programs Director

As aboriginal arsenic 2018 EEA Members including BlockApps, Clearmatics, ConsenSys and JP Morgan Chase had identified situations and configurations wherever IBFT would fail, and began enactment connected evolving the algorithm. The QBFT algorithm was written successful Dafny by Roberto Saltini, enabling formal verification of its correctness, based connected work done by Henrique Moniz to use the outcomes of EEA’s discussions and improvements.

QBFT allows the acceptable of validators to beryllium changed, for illustration to see caller participants successful a consortium web oregon to woody with participants leaving, to equilibrium the outgo of moving validators, oregon to guarantee that nary subordinate has an excess proportionality of validators astatine immoderate fixed time.

QBFT is built connected well-established and time-proven Byzantine Fault Tolerant statement principles. With our enactment it besides relies connected the information and information guarantees provided by ceremonial verification which has allowed america to place and hole immoderate past issues with IBFT that successful definite configurations could go superior problems.

— Roberto Saltini, Lead Researcher astatine ConsenSys, and writer of the QBFT Blockchain Consensus Protocol Specification

The existent mentation of the specification provides Dafny codification with comments and commentary to unambiguously specify the algorithm. QBFT Consensus is implemented successful open-source Enterprise Ethereum Clients including GoQuorum and Hyperledger Besu, and is being utilized successful aggregate projects by EEA members and others, arsenic good arsenic being utilized connected EEA’s testnet.

QBFT is utilized successful accumulation contiguous by consortiums. EEA’s work of QBFT arsenic a modular is simply a large assistance to make caller actors gathering connected the protocol. I americium excited for the possibilities offered by this work, arsenic I big a testnet for the EEA utilizing this statement algorithm.

— Antoine Toulmé, laminitis of The Machine Consultancy, and seat of EEA’s Testnet Working Group

The specification is freely disposable and tin beryllium implemented by anyone, nether the presumption of the Apache 2 unfastened root license.