Toward Trustworthy 6G Networks: A Trust-Based Consensus Scheme

The complexity and heterogeneity of the Sixth Generation (6G) networks raise trust issues among network users. Implementing blockchain-based decentralized trust management in 6G networks ensures user trustworthiness while mitigating the risk of single-point failures. However, the throughput limitation of the blockchain restricts the efficiency of recording trust data, leading to the inability to promptly expose trustless users in the system. To address this issue, this article proposes a Multi-State Consensus (MSC), a blockchain-based trust management scheme that incorporates three novel consensus protocols. These three novel consensus protocols are utilized in different network states to efficiently record the trust data of trustless users, thereby exposing them more quickly. Additionally, in MSC, new users gain initial trust values through the multi-signatures of blockchain miners, thereby addressing the trust value cold-start problem. Experimental results demonstrate that MSC not only exposes trustless users more rapidly but also ensures the robustness of network operations.