14 Search Results for "Anta, Antonio Fernández"


Document
Exploiting Multi-Core Parallelism in Blockchain Validation and Construction

Authors: Arivarasan Karmegam, Lucianna Kiffer, and Antonio Fernández Anta

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 371, 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)


Abstract
Blockchain validators can reduce block processing time by exploiting multi-core CPUs, but deterministic execution must preserve a given total order while respecting transaction conflicts and per-block runtime limits. This paper systematically examines how validators can exploit multi-core parallelism during both block construction and execution without violating blockchain semantics. We formalize two validator-side optimization problems: (i) executing an already ordered block on p cores to minimize makespan while ensuring equivalence to sequential execution; and (ii) selecting and scheduling a subset of mempool transactions under a runtime limit B to maximize validator reward. For both, we develop exact Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulations that capture conflict, order, and capacity constraints, and propose fast deterministic heuristics that scale to realistic workloads. Using Ethereum mainnet traces and including a Solana-inspired declared-access baseline (Sol) for ordered-block scheduling and a simple reward-greedy baseline (RG) for block construction, we empirically quantify the trade-offs between optimality and runtime. MILPs quickly become intractable as heterogeneity or core count increases, whereas our heuristics run in milliseconds and achieve near-optimal quality. For ordered-block execution, heuristic makespans are typically within a few percent of the MILP solutions (and can even surpass the MILP incumbent when the solver times out), yielding up to 1.5 speedup with p = 2 and 2.3 speedup with p = 8 over sequential execution, despite tight ordering constraints. For block construction, the heuristic achieves 99-100% of the MILP optimum reward on homogeneous workloads, and 74-100% of an LP-relaxation upper bound on heterogeneous workloads, where exact optimization often times out. The resulting block-construction throughput scales close to linearly with p, reaching up to 7.9 speedup with p = 8 in our experiments. These results demonstrate that lightweight, conflict-aware scheduling and selection can unlock substantial parallelism in blockchain validation, bridging the gap between sequential execution and the true potential of multi-core hardware.

Cite as

Arivarasan Karmegam, Lucianna Kiffer, and Antonio Fernández Anta. Exploiting Multi-Core Parallelism in Blockchain Validation and Construction. In 24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 371, pp. 23:1-23:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{karmegam_et_al:LIPIcs.SEA.2026.23,
  author =	{Karmegam, Arivarasan and Kiffer, Lucianna and Fern\'{a}ndez Anta, Antonio},
  title =	{{Exploiting Multi-Core Parallelism in Blockchain Validation and Construction}},
  booktitle =	{24th International Symposium on Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2026)},
  pages =	{23:1--23:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-422-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{371},
  editor =	{Aum\"{u}ller, Martin and Finocchi, Irene},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.23},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-260271},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SEA.2026.23},
  annote =	{Keywords: Block construction, Block execution, Deterministic parallelism, Conflict-aware scheduling}
}
Document
Limitations on Accurate, Trusted, Human-Level Reasoning

Authors: Rina Panigrahy and Vatsal Sharan

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 368, 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)


Abstract
We identify a fundamental incompatibility between the goals of accuracy, trust, and human-level reasoning in artificial intelligence (AI) systems, for strict mathematical definitions of these notions. We define accuracy of a system as the property that it never makes any false claims when it has the ability to abstain from making a prediction on any input, and trust as the assumption that the system is accurate. We define human-level reasoning as the property of an AI system always matching or exceeding human capability. Our core finding is that - for our formal definitions of these notions - an accurate and trusted AI system cannot be a human-level reasoning system: for such an accurate, trusted system there are task instances which are easily and provably solvable by a human but not by the system. Our proofs draw parallels to Gödel’s incompleteness theorems and Turing’s proof of the undecidability of the halting problem, and can be regarded as interpretations of Gödel’s and Turing’s results. Key to our proof is the formalization of the notion of trust, which allows us to separate the intrinsic property of a system (being accurate) from its epistemic status (being trusted).

Cite as

Rina Panigrahy and Vatsal Sharan. Limitations on Accurate, Trusted, Human-Level Reasoning. In 7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 368, pp. 11:1-11:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{panigrahy_et_al:LIPIcs.FORC.2026.11,
  author =	{Panigrahy, Rina and Sharan, Vatsal},
  title =	{{Limitations on Accurate, Trusted, Human-Level Reasoning}},
  booktitle =	{7th Symposium on Foundations of Responsible Computing (FORC 2026)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-419-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{368},
  editor =	{Lin, Huijia (Rachel)},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-259840},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FORC.2026.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: Accuracy, Safety, Trust, Complexity-theoretic limitations}
}
Document
77 Shades of Grey

Authors: Quentin Bramas, Stéphane Devismes, Anaïs Durand, Pascal Lafourcade, and Anissa Lamani

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 366, 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)


Abstract
Bruce Wayne contacted us to help him develop a new surveillance technology for dark environments such as caves, using a swarm of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), called Batdroids. A Batdroid has no chirality, limited visibility, and a perfect clock to synchronize with the others. A Batdroid can produce 77 shades of grey in dark mode and four colors in light mode. In this paper, we propose two algorithms using three Batdroids to perpetually explore a finite 3D grid modeling a cave. The first algorithm operates in darkness, uses 77 shades of grey, and requires visibility range one. The second operates in light, uses four colors and visibility range two. We also prove that three is the optimal number of Batdroids required to solve Bruce Wayne’s challenge.

Cite as

Quentin Bramas, Stéphane Devismes, Anaïs Durand, Pascal Lafourcade, and Anissa Lamani. 77 Shades of Grey. In 13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 366, pp. 10:1-10:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)


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@InProceedings{bramas_et_al:LIPIcs.FUN.2026.10,
  author =	{Bramas, Quentin and Devismes, St\'{e}phane and Durand, Ana\"{i}s and Lafourcade, Pascal and Lamani, Anissa},
  title =	{{77 Shades of Grey}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Fun with Algorithms (FUN 2026)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:19},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-417-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{366},
  editor =	{Iacono, John},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-257294},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2026.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Mobile robots, grid exploration, perpetual exploration}
}
Document
Where to Place Your TEE? In Search of a Censorship-Resilient Design for Rollup Sequencers

Authors: Andrei Arusoaie, Claudiu-Nicu Bărbieru, Oana-Otilia Captarencu, Pascal Felber, Corentin Libert, Emanuel Onica, Etienne Rivière, Valerio Schiavoni, and Peterson Yuhala

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 361, 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)


Abstract
Ethereum is the dominant blockchain ecosystem capable of executing Turing-complete smart contracts. Rollups gained significant traction as the primary layer 2 (L2) solution meant to bring horizontal scalability to the main Ethereum network (L1). A core component of any rollup is the sequencer, which creates new L2 blocks to be submitted in rollup batches to L1. In most of the current rollup architectures, this component is centralised. As a result, these designs are prone to inconspicuous censorship practices by the sequencer. Trusted execution environments (TEEs) can guarantee the integrity of various sequencer components, which is instrumental in addressing censorship. However, the reaction of the system design to censorship attempts depends on where a TEE is integrated and which components it protects. In particular, this reaction is limited in the case of a monolithic TEE-protected sequencer design. Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) is a non-monolithic paradigm adopted on L1, which separates the production of blocks from proposing them for inclusion in the blockchain. Recently, PBS has been considered for integration with L2 sequencers, with an impact on alleviating censorship. In this paper, we explore the design space of TEE-integrating PBS and non-PBS sequencer variants. First, we introduce a formal framework for the censorship actions that captures the specificity of the L2 sequencer. Then, we analyse to what extent the different designs address these censorship actions. Our main contribution is a novel design variation that allows for a precise observation of censored transactions. In the presence of TEEs, in a PBS setting, we demonstrate this precise observability, which is necessary to enable resilience to censorship.

Cite as

Andrei Arusoaie, Claudiu-Nicu Bărbieru, Oana-Otilia Captarencu, Pascal Felber, Corentin Libert, Emanuel Onica, Etienne Rivière, Valerio Schiavoni, and Peterson Yuhala. Where to Place Your TEE? In Search of a Censorship-Resilient Design for Rollup Sequencers. In 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 361, pp. 27:1-27:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{arusoaie_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.27,
  author =	{Arusoaie, Andrei and B\u{a}rbieru, Claudiu-Nicu and Captarencu, Oana-Otilia and Felber, Pascal and Libert, Corentin and Onica, Emanuel and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio and Yuhala, Peterson},
  title =	{{Where to Place Your TEE? In Search of a Censorship-Resilient Design for Rollup Sequencers}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)},
  pages =	{27:1--27:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-409-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{361},
  editor =	{Arusoaie, Andrei and Onica, Emanuel and Spear, Michael and Tucci-Piergiovanni, Sara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.27},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-252000},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.27},
  annote =	{Keywords: Rollups, Trusted Execution Environments, Censorship}
}
Document
Tight Conditions for Binary-Output Tasks Under Crashes

Authors: Timothé Albouy, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, Nicolas Nicolaou, and Junlang Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 361, 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)


Abstract
This paper explores necessary and sufficient system conditions to solve distributed tasks with binary outputs (i.e., tasks with output values in {0,1}). We focus on the distinct output sets of values a task can produce (intentionally disregarding validity and value multiplicity), considering that some processes may output no value. In a distributed system with n processes, of which up to t ≤ n can crash, we provide a complete characterization of the tight conditions on n and t under which every class of tasks with binary outputs is solvable, for both synchronous and asynchronous systems. This output-set approach yields highly general results: it unifies multiple distributed computing problems, such as binary consensus and symmetry breaking, and it produces impossibility proofs that hold for stronger task formulations, including those that consider validity, account for value multiplicity, or move beyond binary outputs.

Cite as

Timothé Albouy, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, Nicolas Nicolaou, and Junlang Wang. Tight Conditions for Binary-Output Tasks Under Crashes. In 29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 361, pp. 5:1-5:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{albouy_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.5,
  author =	{Albouy, Timoth\'{e} and Fern\'{a}ndez Anta, Antonio and Georgiou, Chryssis and Nicolaou, Nicolas and Wang, Junlang},
  title =	{{Tight Conditions for Binary-Output Tasks Under Crashes}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2025)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-409-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{361},
  editor =	{Arusoaie, Andrei and Onica, Emanuel and Spear, Michael and Tucci-Piergiovanni, Sara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-251786},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2025.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed solvability, Asynchrony, Synchrony, Impossibility proofs, Binary-output tasks, Crash tolerance, Disagreement}
}
Document
Auditable Shared Objects: From Registers to Synchronization Primitives

Authors: Hagit Attiya, Antonio Fernández Anta, Alessia Milani, Alexandre Rapetti, and Corentin Travers

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 356, 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)


Abstract
Auditability allows to track operations performed on a shared object, recording who accessed which information. This gives data owners more control on their data. Initially studied in the context of single-writer registers, this work extends the notion of auditability to other shared objects, and studies their properties. We start by moving from single-writer to multi-writer registers, and provide an implementation of an auditable n-writer m-reader read / write register, with O(n+m) step complexity. This implementation uses (m+n)-sliding registers, which have consensus number m+n. We show that this consensus number is necessary. The implementation extends naturally to support an auditable load-linked / store-conditional (LL/SC) shared object. LL/SC is a primitive that supports efficient implementation of many shared objects. Finally, we relate auditable registers to other access control objects, by implementing an anti-flickering deny list from auditable registers.

Cite as

Hagit Attiya, Antonio Fernández Anta, Alessia Milani, Alexandre Rapetti, and Corentin Travers. Auditable Shared Objects: From Registers to Synchronization Primitives. In 39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 356, pp. 8:1-8:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{attiya_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2025.8,
  author =	{Attiya, Hagit and Anta, Antonio Fern\'{a}ndez and Milani, Alessia and Rapetti, Alexandre and Travers, Corentin},
  title =	{{Auditable Shared Objects: From Registers to Synchronization Primitives}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2025)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-402-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{356},
  editor =	{Kowalski, Dariusz R.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-248253},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2025.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: Auditability, Wait-free implementation, Synchronization power, Distributed objects, Shared memory, LL/SC, Deny List}
}
Document
Blockchain Governance via Sharp Anonymous Multisignatures

Authors: Wonseok Choi, Xiangyu Liu, and Vassilis Zikas

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 354, 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)


Abstract
Electronic voting has occupied a large part of the cryptographic protocols literature. The recent reality of blockchains - in particular, their need for online governance mechanisms - has brought new parameters and requirements to the problem. We identify the key requirements of a blockchain governance mechanism, namely correctness (including eliminative double votes), voter anonymity, and traceability, and investigate mechanisms that can achieve them with minimal interaction and under assumptions that fit the blockchain setting. First, we define a signature-like primitive, which we term sharp anonymous multisignatures (in short, ♯AMS) that tightly meets the needs of blockchain governance. In a nutshell, ♯AMSs allow any set of parties to generate a signature, e.g., on a proposal to be voted upon, which, if posted on the blockchain, hides the identities of the signers/voters but reveals their number. This can be seen as a (strict) generalization of threshold ring signatures (TRS). We next turn to constructing such ♯AMSs and using them in various governance scenarios - e.g., single vote vs. multiple votes per voter. In this direction, although the definition of TRS does not imply ♯AMS, one can compile some existing TRS constructions into ♯AMS. This raises the question: What is the TRS structure that allows such a compilation? To answer the above, we devise templates for TRSs. Our templates encapsulate and abstract the structure that allows for the above compilation - most of the TRS schemes that can be compiled into ♯AMS are, in fact, instantiations of our template. This abstraction makes our template generic for instantiating TRSs and ♯AMSs from different cryptographic assumptions (e.g., DDH, LWE, etc.). One of our templates is based on chameleon hashes, and we explore a framework of lossy chameleon hashes to understand their nature fully. Finally, we turn to how ♯AMS schemes can be used in our applications. We provide fast (in some cases non-interactive) ♯AMS-based blockchain governance mechanisms for a wide spectrum of assumptions on the honesty (semi-honest vs malicious) and availability of voters and proposers.

Cite as

Wonseok Choi, Xiangyu Liu, and Vassilis Zikas. Blockchain Governance via Sharp Anonymous Multisignatures. In 7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 354, pp. 5:1-5:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{choi_et_al:LIPIcs.AFT.2025.5,
  author =	{Choi, Wonseok and Liu, Xiangyu and Zikas, Vassilis},
  title =	{{Blockchain Governance via Sharp Anonymous Multisignatures}},
  booktitle =	{7th Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT 2025)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-400-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{354},
  editor =	{Avarikioti, Zeta and Christin, Nicolas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-247242},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.AFT.2025.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Blockchain, E-voting, Threshold Ring Signatures, Threshold Cryptography}
}
Document
APPROX
Optimal Competitive Ratio for Optimization Problems with Congestion Effects

Authors: Miriam Fischer, Dario Paccagnan, and Cosimo Vinci

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 353, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)


Abstract
In this work we study online optimization problems with congestion effects. These are problems where tasks arrive online and a decision maker is required to allocate them on the fly to available resources in order to minimize the cost suffered, which grows with the amount of resources used. This class of problems corresponds to the online counterpart of well-known studied problems, including optimization problems with diseconomies of scale [Konstantin Makarychev and Maxim Sviridenko, 2018], minimum cost in congestion games [Gairing and Paccagnan, 2023], and load balancing problems [Baruch Awerbuch et al., 1995]. Within this setting, our work settles the problem of designing online algorithms with optimal competitive ratio, i.e., algorithms whose incurred cost is as close as possible to that of an oracle with complete knowledge of the future instance ahead of time. We provide three contributions underpinning this result. First, we show that no online algorithm can achieve a competitive ratio below a given factor depending solely on the resource costs. Second, we show that, when guided by carefully modified cost functions, the greedy algorithm achieves a competitive ratio matching this lower bound and thus is optimal. Finally, we show how to compute such modified cost functions in polynomial time.

Cite as

Miriam Fischer, Dario Paccagnan, and Cosimo Vinci. Optimal Competitive Ratio for Optimization Problems with Congestion Effects. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 353, pp. 9:1-9:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{fischer_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.9,
  author =	{Fischer, Miriam and Paccagnan, Dario and Vinci, Cosimo},
  title =	{{Optimal Competitive Ratio for Optimization Problems with Congestion Effects}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2025)},
  pages =	{9:1--9:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-397-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{353},
  editor =	{Ene, Alina and Chattopadhyay, Eshan},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.9},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-243754},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2025.9},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online Algorithms, Competitive Ratio, Algorithmic Game Theory, Greedy Algorithms, Congestion Games}
}
Document
AMECOS: A Modular Event-Based Framework for Concurrent Object Specification

Authors: Timothé Albouy, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, Mathieu Gestin, Nicolas Nicolaou, and Junlang Wang

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 324, 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)


Abstract
In this work, we introduce a modular framework for specifying distributed systems that we call AMECOS. Specifically, our framework departs from the traditional use of sequential specification, which presents limitations both on the specification expressiveness and implementation efficiency of inherently concurrent objects, as documented by Castañeda, Rajsbaum and Raynal in CACM 2023. Our framework focuses on the interactions between the various system components, specified as concurrent objects. Interactions are described with sequences of object events. This provides a modular way of specifying distributed systems and separates legality (object semantics) from other issues, such as consistency. We demonstrate the usability of our framework by (i) specifying various well-known concurrent objects, such as registers, shared memory, message-passing, reliable broadcast, and consensus, (ii) providing hierarchies of ordering semantics (namely, consistency hierarchy, memory hierarchy, and reliable broadcast hierarchy), and (iii) presenting a novel axiomatic proof of the impossibility of the well-known Consensus problem.

Cite as

Timothé Albouy, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, Mathieu Gestin, Nicolas Nicolaou, and Junlang Wang. AMECOS: A Modular Event-Based Framework for Concurrent Object Specification. In 28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 324, pp. 4:1-4:29, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@InProceedings{albouy_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.4,
  author =	{Albouy, Timoth\'{e} and Fern\'{a}ndez Anta, Antonio and Georgiou, Chryssis and Gestin, Mathieu and Nicolaou, Nicolas and Wang, Junlang},
  title =	{{AMECOS: A Modular Event-Based Framework for Concurrent Object Specification}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2024)},
  pages =	{4:1--4:29},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-360-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{324},
  editor =	{Bonomi, Silvia and Galletta, Letterio and Rivi\`{e}re, Etienne and Schiavoni, Valerio},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-225409},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2024.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Concurrency, Object specification, Consistency conditions, Consensus impossibility}
}
Document
Byzantine-Tolerant Distributed Grow-Only Sets: Specification and Applications

Authors: Vicent Cholvi, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, Nicolas Nicolaou, Michel Raynal, and Antonio Russo

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 92, 4th International Symposium on Foundations and Applications of Blockchain 2021 (FAB 2021)


Abstract
In order to formalize Distributed Ledger Technologies and their interconnections, a recent line of research work has formulated the notion of Distributed Ledger Object (DLO), which is a concurrent object that maintains a totally ordered sequence of records, abstracting blockchains and distributed ledgers. Through DLO, the Atomic Appends problem, intended as the need of a primitive able to append multiple records to distinct ledgers in an atomic way, is studied as a basic interconnection problem among ledgers. In this work, we propose the Distributed Grow-only Set object (DSO), which instead of maintaining a sequence of records, as in a DLO, maintains a set of records in an immutable way: only Add and Get operations are provided. This object is inspired by the Grow-only Set (G-Set) data type which is part of the Conflict-free Replicated Data Types. We formally specify the object and we provide a consensus-free Byzantine-tolerant implementation that guarantees eventual consistency. We then use our Byzantine-tolerant DSO (BDSO) implementation to provide consensus-free algorithmic solutions to the Atomic Appends and Atomic Adds (the analogous problem of atomic appends applied on G-Sets) problems, as well as to construct consensus-free Single-Writer BDLOs. We believe that the BDSO has applications beyond the above-mentioned problems.

Cite as

Vicent Cholvi, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, Nicolas Nicolaou, Michel Raynal, and Antonio Russo. Byzantine-Tolerant Distributed Grow-Only Sets: Specification and Applications. In 4th International Symposium on Foundations and Applications of Blockchain 2021 (FAB 2021). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 92, pp. 2:1-2:19, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)


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@InProceedings{cholvi_et_al:OASIcs.FAB.2021.2,
  author =	{Cholvi, Vicent and Fern\'{a}ndez Anta, Antonio and Georgiou, Chryssis and Nicolaou, Nicolas and Raynal, Michel and Russo, Antonio},
  title =	{{Byzantine-Tolerant Distributed Grow-Only Sets: Specification and Applications}},
  booktitle =	{4th International Symposium on Foundations and Applications of Blockchain 2021 (FAB 2021)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:19},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-196-2},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{92},
  editor =	{Gramoli, Vincent and Sadoghi, Mohammad},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.FAB.2021.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-139883},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.FAB.2021.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Grow-only Sets, Distributed Ledgers, Blockchains, Atomic appends}
}
Document
Atomic Appends: Selling Cars and Coordinating Armies with Multiple Distributed Ledgers

Authors: Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, and Nicolas Nicolaou

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 71, International Conference on Blockchain Economics, Security and Protocols (Tokenomics 2019)


Abstract
The various applications using Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) or blockchains, have led to the introduction of a new "marketplace" where multiple types of digital assets may be exchanged. As each blockchain is designed to support specific types of assets and transactions, and no blockchain will prevail, the need to perform interblockchain transactions is already pressing. In this work we examine the fundamental problem of interoperable and interconnected blockchains. In particular, we begin by introducing the Multi-Distributed Ledger Objects (MDLO), which is the result of aggregating multiple Distributed Ledger Objects - DLO (a DLO is a formalization of the blockchain) and that supports append and get operations of records (e.g., transactions) in them from multiple clients concurrently. Next we define the AtomicAppends problem, which emerges when the exchange of digital assets between multiple clients may involve appending records in more than one DLO. Specifically, AtomicAppend requires that either all records will be appended on the involved DLOs or none. We examine the solvability of this problem assuming rational and risk-averse clients that may fail by crashing, and under different client utility and append models, timing models, and client failure scenarios. We show that for some cases the existence of an intermediary is necessary for the problem solution. We propose the implementation of such intermediary over a specialized blockchain, we term Smart DLO (SDLO), and we show how this can be used to solve the AtomicAppends problem even in an asynchronous, client competitive environment, where all the clients may crash.

Cite as

Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, and Nicolas Nicolaou. Atomic Appends: Selling Cars and Coordinating Armies with Multiple Distributed Ledgers. In International Conference on Blockchain Economics, Security and Protocols (Tokenomics 2019). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 71, pp. 5:1-5:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)


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@InProceedings{fernandezanta_et_al:OASIcs.Tokenomics.2019.5,
  author =	{Fern\'{a}ndez Anta, Antonio and Georgiou, Chryssis and Nicolaou, Nicolas},
  title =	{{Atomic Appends: Selling Cars and Coordinating Armies with Multiple Distributed Ledgers}},
  booktitle =	{International Conference on Blockchain Economics, Security and Protocols (Tokenomics 2019)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:16},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-108-5},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{71},
  editor =	{Danos, Vincent and Herlihy, Maurice and Potop-Butucaru, Maria and Prat, Julien and Tucci-Piergiovanni, Sara},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.Tokenomics.2019.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-119695},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.Tokenomics.2019.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: DLO, Interoperability, Atomic Appends, Rational Clients, Fault-tolerance}
}
Document
Brief Announcement
Brief Announcement: Implementing Byzantine Tolerant Distributed Ledger Objects

Authors: Vicent Cholvi, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, and Nicolas Nicolaou

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 146, 33rd International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2019)


Abstract
This work provides a proper formalization for Distributed Ledger Objects (as first defined in [Antonio Fernández Anta et al., 2018]), when processes may be Byzantine. The formal definitions are accompanied by algorithms to implement Byzantine Distributed Ledgers by utilizing a Byzantine Atomic Broadcast service.

Cite as

Vicent Cholvi, Antonio Fernández Anta, Chryssis Georgiou, and Nicolas Nicolaou. Brief Announcement: Implementing Byzantine Tolerant Distributed Ledger Objects. In 33rd International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 146, pp. 40:1-40:3, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{cholvi_et_al:LIPIcs.DISC.2019.40,
  author =	{Cholvi, Vicent and Anta, Antonio Fern\'{a}ndez and Georgiou, Chryssis and Nicolaou, Nicolas},
  title =	{{Brief Announcement: Implementing Byzantine Tolerant Distributed Ledger Objects}},
  booktitle =	{33rd International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2019)},
  pages =	{40:1--40:3},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-126-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{146},
  editor =	{Suomela, Jukka},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2019.40},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-113476},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DISC.2019.40},
  annote =	{Keywords: Distributed Ledger Object, Byzantine Faults}
}
Document
Computationally Light "Multi-Speed" Atomic Memory

Authors: Antonio Fernández Anta, Theophanis Hadjistasi, and Nicolas Nicolaou

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 70, 20th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2016)


Abstract
Communication demands are usually the leading factor that defines the efficiency of operations on a read/write shared memory emulation in the message-passing environment. In the quest for minimizing the communication demands, the algorithms proposed either require restrictions in the system or incur high computation demands. As a result, such solutions may be not suitable to be used in practice. In this paper we focus on the practicality of implementations of atomic read/write shared memory emulation in the message-passing environment. In particular we investigate implementations that reduce both communication and computation demands. We first examine the shortcomings of the best two (in terms of communication demands) known algorithms that implement atomic single-writer multiple-reader (SWMR) atomic memory. The algorithm ccFast proposed by A. Fernández et al., achieves optimal communication by allowing each operation to complete in one round trip, with light computation requirements. Unfortunately, it relies on strict limitations on the number of readers. On the other hand, algorithm OhSam, imposes no restrictions on the system, but provides operations that require one and a half communication rounds. In the light of these shortcomings, we present two algorithms that implement multi-speed operations with light computation, and without imposing any restriction on the system. In particular, algorithm ccHybrid adopts the fast (one-round) writes and makes clients to switch to a slow (two-round) mode whenever the system is congested. On the other hand, algorithm OhFast, pushes the responsibility of deciding for the speed switch to the servers. This allows the algorithm to utilize the fast operations, and the slow one-and-a-half-rounds operations of the algorithm presented by T. Hadjistasi et al., whenever is necessary. We prove that both new algorithms preserve atomicity. To evaluate the new algorithms we implement five different atomic memory algorithms in the NS3 simulator, and we compare their performance in terms of operation latency, and ratio of slow over fast operations performed. We test the algorithms over different: (i) topologies, and (ii) operation loads. Our results support that the newly presented algorithms increase the practicality of atomic read/write atomic shared memory implementations in the message-passing, asynchronous environment.

Cite as

Antonio Fernández Anta, Theophanis Hadjistasi, and Nicolas Nicolaou. Computationally Light "Multi-Speed" Atomic Memory. In 20th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2016). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 70, pp. 29:1-29:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2017)


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@InProceedings{fernandezanta_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2016.29,
  author =	{Fern\'{a}ndez Anta, Antonio and Hadjistasi, Theophanis and Nicolaou, Nicolas},
  title =	{{Computationally Light "Multi-Speed" Atomic Memory}},
  booktitle =	{20th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2016)},
  pages =	{29:1--29:17},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-031-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2017},
  volume =	{70},
  editor =	{Fatourou, Panagiota and Jim\'{e}nez, Ernesto and Pedone, Fernando},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2016.29},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-70980},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2016.29},
  annote =	{Keywords: atomicity, read/write objects, shared memory, operation latency}
}
Document
Making "Fast" Atomic Operations Computationally Tractable

Authors: Antonio Fernández Anta, Nicolas Nicolaou, and Alexandru Popa

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 46, 19th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2015)


Abstract
Communication overhead is the most commonly used performance metric for the operation complexity of distributed algorithms in message-passing environments. However, aside with communication, many distributed operations utilize complex computations to reach their desired outcomes. Therefore, a most accurate operation latency measure should account of both computation and communication metrics. In this paper we focus on the efficiency of read and write operations in an atomic read/write shared memory emulation in the message-passing environment. We examine the operation complexity of the best known atomic register algorithm, that allows all read and write operations to complete in a single communication round-trip. Such operations are called fast. At its heart, the algorithm utilizes a predicate to allow processes to compute their outcome. We show that the predicate used is computationally hard, by devising a computationally equivalent problem and reducing that to Maximum Biclique, a known NP-hard problem. To improve the computational complexity of the algorithm we derive a new predicate that leads to a new algorithm, we call ccFast, and has the following properties: (i) can be computed in polynomial time, rendering each read operation in ccFast tractable compared to the read operations in the original algorithm, (ii) the messages used in ccFast are reduced in size, compared to the original algorithm, by almost a linear factor, (iii) allows all operations in ccFast to be fast, and (iv) allows ccFast to preserve atomicity. A linear time}algorithm for the computation of the new predicate is presented along with an analysis of the message complexity of the new algorithm. We believe that the new algorithm redefines the term fast capturing both the communication and the computation metrics of each operation.

Cite as

Antonio Fernández Anta, Nicolas Nicolaou, and Alexandru Popa. Making "Fast" Atomic Operations Computationally Tractable. In 19th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2015). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 46, pp. 19:1-19:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2016)


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@InProceedings{fernandezanta_et_al:LIPIcs.OPODIS.2015.19,
  author =	{Fern\'{a}ndez Anta, Antonio and Nicolaou, Nicolas and Popa, Alexandru},
  title =	{{Making "Fast" Atomic Operations Computationally Tractable}},
  booktitle =	{19th International Conference on Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2015)},
  pages =	{19:1--19:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-98-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2016},
  volume =	{46},
  editor =	{Anceaume, Emmanuelle and Cachin, Christian and Potop-Butucaru, Maria},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2015.19},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-66108},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.OPODIS.2015.19},
  annote =	{Keywords: atomicity, read/write objects, shared memory, computational complexity}
}
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