Ethna: Analyzing the Underlying Peer-to-Peer Network of Ethereum Blockchain
Ethna: Analyzing the Underlying Peer-to-Peer Network of Ethereum Blockchain
复制标题
Ethna：分析以太坊区块链的底层点对点网络
DOI：
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发表时间：
2021
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
S. Liew
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Taotao Wang;Chonghe Zhao;Qing Yang;Shengli Zhang;S. Liew
区块链的对等(P2P)网络用于传输其交易和区块，对系统的效率和安全性有很高的影响。因此，比特币和以太等热门区块链的P2P网络拓扑值得我们高度关注。目前的Etherum区块链浏览器(例如，Ethercan)专注于跟踪块和交易记录，但忽略了对底层P2P网络的表征。这项工作介绍了以太网络分析器(Ethna)，这是一个探测和分析以太区块链的P2P网络的工具。与采用非结构化P2P网络的比特币不同，以太依靠Kademlia DHT来管理其P2P网络。因此，现有针对类比特币P2P网络的分析方法并不适用于以太。Etherna实现了一种新的方法，可以准确地测量以太节点的度数。此外，它还结合了一种算法，该算法推导了以太P2P网络中消息传播的延迟度量。我们在以太主网上运行了Etherna，并进行了大量的实验，分析了其P2P网络的拓扑特征。分析表明，以太P2P网络具有一定的小世界网络效应，节点的度服从无标度网络的幂分布。
The peer-to-peer (P2P) network of blockchain used to transport its transactions and blocks has a high impact on the efficiency and security of the system. The P2P network topologies of popular blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, therefore, deserve our highest attention. The current Ethereum blockchain explorers (e.g., Etherscan) focus on the tracking of block and transaction records but omit the characterization of the underlying P2P network. This work presents the Ethereum Network Analyzer (Ethna), a tool that probes and analyzes the P2P network of the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike Bitcoin that adopts an unstructured P2P network, Ethereum relies on the Kademlia DHT to manage its P2P network. Therefore, the existing analytical methods for Bitcoin-like P2P networks are not applicable to Ethereum. Ethna implements a novel method that accurately measures the degrees of Ethereum nodes. Furthermore, it incorporates an algorithm that derives the latency metrics of message propagation in the Ethereum P2P network. We ran Ethna on the Ethereum Mainnet and conducted extensive experiments to analyze the topological features of its P2P network. Our analysis shows that the Ethereum P2P network possesses a certain effect of small-world networks, and the degrees of nodes follow a power-law distribution that characterizes scale-free networks.