Paper 2023/397 Original: eprint.iacr.org/2023/397 ↗

Extended Abstract: HotStuff-2: Optimal Two-Phase Responsive BFT

Dahlia Malkhi
Kartik Nayak
Abstract

In this paper, we observe that it is possible to solve partially-synchronous BFT and simultaneously achieves $O(n^2)$ worst-case communication, optimistically linear communication, a two-phase commit regime within a view, and optimistic responsiveness. Prior work falls short in achieving one or more of these properties, e.g., the most closely related work, HotStuff, requires a three-phase view while achieving all other properties. We demonstrate that these properties are achievable through a two-phase HotStuff variant named HotStuff-2. The quest for two-phase HotStuff variants that achieve all the above desirable properties has been long, producing a series of results that are yet sub-optimal and, at the same time, are based on somewhat heavy hammers. HotStuff-2 demonstrates that none of these are necessary: HotStuff-2 is remarkably simple, adding no substantive complexity to the original HotStuff protocol. The main takeaway is that two phases are enough for BFT after all.

Metadata
Available format(s)
PDF
Category
Foundations
Publication info
Preprint.
History
2023-04-17: last updated
2023-03-20: published
Short URL
https://ia.cr/2023/397
License
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2023/397,
      author = {Dahlia Malkhi and Kartik Nayak},
      title = {Extended Abstract: HotStuff-2: Optimal Two-Phase Responsive BFT},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2023/397},
      year = {2023},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/397}
}
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