BLOCKCHAINS: NOVEL DATA SYSTEMS AND BEYOND

Abstract

The success of Bitcoin brings tremendous interest to its underneath technology, the blockchain. A blockchain is a decentralized system that orchestrates mutually distrusting parties towards a unanimous agreement on a ledger of the transaction history, without resorting to third parties. For years, blockchains find their applications solely in cryptocurrencies, serving monetary transfers between anonymous transactors. However, this situation is now radically changed — smart contracts in blockchains enable arbitrary data transitions more than cryptocurrency transfers; demands are running high to tap the blockchains’ potential for use cases where accountability overrides anonymity. Blockchains are then shifted away from their original purpose. They enter the data-processing domain, where decades of experience from the database community is too copious to overlook. In this thesis, we focus on the optimization of blockchains from the perspective of data systems. Particularly, we target permissioned blockchains, which, unlike Bitcoin, run with identifiable parties and exhibit wider applicability.