The rapid evolution of blockchain technology has brought together stakeholders from fundamentally different backgrounds. The result is a diverse ecosystem, as exemplified by the development of a wide range of different blockchain protocols. This raises questions for decision and policy makers: How do different protocols compare? What are their tradeoffs? Existing efforts to survey the area reveal a fragmented terminology and the lack of a unified framework to reason about the properties of blockchain protocols. In this article, we work toward bridging this gap. We present a five-dimensional design space with a modular structure in which protocols can be compared and understood. Based on these five axes-optimality, stability, efficiency, robustness, and persistence-we organize the properties of existing protocols in subcategories of increasing granularity. The result is a dynamic scheme-termed the PREStO framework-which aids the interaction between stakeholders of different backgrounds, including managers and investors, and which enables systematic reasoning about blockchain protocols. We illustrate its value by comparing existing protocols and identifying research challenges, hence making a first step toward understanding the blockchain ecosystem through a more comprehensive lens.

中文翻译：

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PREStO：区块链共识协议的系统框架


区块链技术的快速发展将来自不同背景的利益相关者聚集在一起。其结果是形成一个多样化的生态系统，各种不同区块链协议的开发就是例证。这给决策者和政策制定者提出了问题：不同协议如何比较？他们的权衡是什么？现有对该领域的调查工作揭示了术语的碎片化以及缺乏统一的框架来推理区块链协议的属性。在本文中，我们致力于弥合这一差距。我们提出了一个具有模块化结构的五维设计空间，可以在其中比较和理解协议。基于这五个轴——最优性、稳定性、效率、鲁棒性和持久性——我们将现有协议的属性组织成粒度不断增加的子类别。其结果是一个称为 PREStO 框架的动态方案，它有助于不同背景的利益相关者（包括管理者和投资者）之间的互动，并能够对区块链协议进行系统推理。我们通过比较现有协议和确定研究挑战来说明其价值，从而迈出了通过更全面的视角了解区块链生态系统的第一步。