Reducing time lag in the node-to-node communication with special reference to blockchain

The Bitcoin protocol, which is built on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, allows transactions and blocks to be distributed in a decentralized manner to all nodes. The data is validated and stored in a distributed data ledger, or Blockchain, across the nodes. Today’s blockchain systems depend on unstructured P2P overlay networks to disseminate transactions and blocks. Transmission is recognized to be an inefficient activity in such networks in terms of message complexity and overhead. In addition to affecting system speed, inefficient or delayed block propagation may have serious implications for the consensus layer’s security and fairness. The present Bitcoin blockchain can only accommodate a small number of transactions per second (TPS), despite its robust security and privacy protections. Hence, in this paper, we propose novel block propagation protocols for the P2P network of the Bitcoin blockchain. The proposed super-peer selection (SPS) and cluster authority selection (CAS) techniques choose the shortest and the most secured path for block transactions that minimize the propagation delay. We analyze our protocols and create a Bitcoin network simulator using NS3 to test multiple block propagation protocols to verify our ideas. In terms of system overhead, rate of data success transmission, routing hops, and propagation delay, simulation results reveal that the proposed techniques surpass the blockchain network’s current propagation mechanism. The studies also show that the proposed block propagation techniques may boost Bitcoin’s TPS by 100 times without affecting security or consensus-building.