CountChain: A Decentralized Oracle Network for Counting Systems

Behkish Nassirzadeh*, Stefanos Leonardos, Albert Heinle, Anwar Hasan, Vijay Ganesh

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conference typesPaperpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
41 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Blockchain integration in industries like online advertising is hindered by its connectivity limitations to off-chain data. These industries heavily rely on precise counting systems to collect and analyze off-chain data. This requires mechanisms, often called oracles, to feed off-chain data into smart contracts. However, current oracle solutions are ill-suited for counting systems since the oracles do not know when to expect the data, posing a significant challenge. To address this, we present CountChain, a decentralized oracle network for counting systems. In CountChain, data is received by all oracle nodes, and any node can submit a proposition request. Each proposition contains enough data to evaluate the occurrence of an event. Only randomly selected nodes participate in a game to evaluate the truthfulness of each proposition by providing proof and some stake. Finally, the propositions with the outcome of True increments the counter in a smart contract. Thus, instead of a contract calling oracles for data, in CountChain, the oracles call a smart contract when the data is available. Furthermore, we present a formal analysis and experimental evaluation of the system's parameters on over half a million data points to obtain optimal system parameters. In such conditions, our gametheoretical analysis demonstrates that a Nash equilibrium exists wherein all rational parties participate with honesty.

Original languageEnglish
Pages324-331
Number of pages8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

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