Transaction Confirmation Time Prediction in Ethereum Blockchain Using Machine Learning

Reading time: 6 minute
...

📝 Original Info

  • Title: Transaction Confirmation Time Prediction in Ethereum Blockchain Using Machine Learning
  • ArXiv ID: 1911.11592
  • Date: 2019-11-27
  • Authors: ** Harsh Jot Singh, Abdelhakim Senhaji Hafid (Department of Computer Science and Operational Research, University of Montreal, Canada) **

📝 Abstract

Blockchain offers a decentralized, immutable, transparent system of records. It offers a peer-to-peer network of nodes with no centralised governing entity making it unhackable and therefore, more secure than the traditional paper-based or centralised system of records like banks etc. While there are certain advantages to the paper-based recording approach, it does not work well with digital relationships where the data is in constant flux. Unlike traditional channels, governed by centralized entities, blockchain offers its users a certain level of anonymity by providing capabilities to interact without disclosing their personal identities and allows them to build trust without a third-party governing entity. Due to the aforementioned characteristics of blockchain, more and more users around the globe are inclined towards making a digital transaction via blockchain than via rudimentary channels. Therefore, there is a dire need for us to gain insight on how these transactions are processed by the blockchain and how much time it may take for a peer to confirm a transaction and add it to the blockchain network. This paper presents a novel approach that would allow one to estimate the time, in block time or otherwise, it would take for a mining node to accept and confirm a transaction to a block using machine learning. The paper also aims to compare the predictive accuracy of two machine learning regression models- Random Forest Regressor and Multilayer Perceptron against previously proposed statistical regression model under a set evaluation criterion. The objective is to determine whether machine learning offers a more accurate predictive model than conventional statistical models. The proposed model results in improved accuracy in prediction.

💡 Deep Analysis

Deep Dive into Transaction Confirmation Time Prediction in Ethereum Blockchain Using Machine Learning.

Blockchain offers a decentralized, immutable, transparent system of records. It offers a peer-to-peer network of nodes with no centralised governing entity making it unhackable and therefore, more secure than the traditional paper-based or centralised system of records like banks etc. While there are certain advantages to the paper-based recording approach, it does not work well with digital relationships where the data is in constant flux. Unlike traditional channels, governed by centralized entities, blockchain offers its users a certain level of anonymity by providing capabilities to interact without disclosing their personal identities and allows them to build trust without a third-party governing entity. Due to the aforementioned characteristics of blockchain, more and more users around the globe are inclined towards making a digital transaction via blockchain than via rudimentary channels. Therefore, there is a dire need for us to gain insight on how these transactions are proces

📄 Full Content

Abstract- Blockchain offers a decentralized, immutable, transparent system of records. It offers a peer-to-peer network of nodes with no centralised governing entity making it ‘unhackable’ and therefore, more secure than the traditional paper-based or centralised system of records like banks etc. While there are certain advantages to the paper-based recording approach, it does not work well with digital relationships where the data is in constant flux. Unlike traditional channels, governed by centralized entities, blockchain offers its users a certain level of anonymity by providing capabilities to interact without disclosing their personal identities and allows them to build trust without a third-party governing entity. Due to the aforementioned characteristics of blockchain, more and more users around the globe are inclined towards making a digital transaction via blockchain than via rudimentary channels. Therefore, there is a dire need for us to gain insight on how these transactions are processed by the blockchain and how much time it may take for a peer to confirm a transaction and add it to the blockchain network. This paper presents a novel approach that would allow one to estimate the time, in block time or otherwise, it would take for a mining node to accept and confirm a transaction to a block using machine learning. The paper also aims to compare the predictive accuracy of two machine learning regression models- Random Forest Regressor and Multilayer Perceptron against previously proposed statistical regression model under a set evaluation criterion. The objective is to determine whether machine learning offers a more accurate predictive model than conventional statistical models. The proposed model results in improved accuracy in prediction. Index terms-- Blockchain, Confirmation Time, Ethereum, Machine Learning, Regression, Transaction, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Random Forest. I. INTRODUCTION Blockchain Technology is a distributed database shared between nodes in a peer-to-peer network (e.g., more than 10000 nodes in Ethereum). Basically, each network node can receive and broadcast transactions. Blockchain, as the name suggests, records transactions into linked blocks [1]. When a user wants to interact with the blockchain (e.g., to transfer cryptocurrency or store a testament), they create and sign, using their private key, a transaction; note that blockchain, in itself, uses public key encryption. Then, it sends the transaction to the blockchain network; a node that receives the transaction, validates the transactions (e.g., verifies the user’s signature) and, if valid, stores the transaction in its pending list of transactions and transmits it to its neighbouring nodes. Periodically, a node is selected to create a block; the selection is based on the consensus protocol in use. In the case of proof- of-work (PoW) consensus protocol [2], the node that first solves a mathematical puzzle, is the one that creates the new block. It is important to emphasize that there should be no shortcuts to solve the puzzle in order to guarantee that nodes are selected randomly. PoW consists of determining a string (called nonce) such that when combined with the block header and hashed results in hash that includes a given number of leading 0 bits (this number represents the difficulty in solving the puzzle). Nodes are incentivised to create new blocks because they are rewarded by newly minted coins (e.g., in the bitcoin blockchain, the reward is 12.5 bitcoins as of 2019) and transactions fees. The time it takes to generate a block, called block time, is specific to the blockchain in use; for example, the block time for bitcoin is 10 minutes whereas it is 15 seconds for Ethereum. Transaction Confirmation Time Prediction in Ethereum Blockchain Using Machine Learning

Harsh Jot Singh, Abdelhakim Senhaji Hafid, Department of Computer Science and Operational Research, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4 Blockchain comes in many different types. More specifically, there are three types of blockchains: permissionless blockchain also known as public blockchain (e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum), permissioned blockchain also known as consortium blockchain (e.g., Hyperledger fabric), and private blockchain. In public blockchains, any participant/user can write data to the blockchain and can read data recorded in the blockchain; anybody can be a full node, a miner or a light node. Thus, there is little to no privacy for recorded data and there are no regulations or rules for participants to join the network. Generally, pubic blockchains are considered pseudo-anonymous (e.g., bitcoin and Ethereum); a participant does not have to divulge their identity (e.g., name) instead the user is linked to an address (i.e., hash of public key). Providing anonymity is difficult but it is feasible (e.g., Zcash

…(Full text truncated)…

Reference

This content is AI-processed based on ArXiv data.

Start searching

Enter keywords to search articles

↑↓
ESC
⌘K Shortcut