Multi-agent modelling of fairness for users and miners in blockchains

Abstract

Due to the open and dynamic nature of blockchain systems, the participants (users and miners) have to take into accounts uncertain constraints (e.g., the transaction confirmation times, the delays in the network, and the topology of the network) during their decision-making processes for carefully balancing their objectives. One of these objectives is to operate in a fair environment. This is important since participants may decide to leave the system if they cannot satisfy this objective, which may imply reduced security and sustainability of the system. Yet, existing approaches to modelling fairness are based on formalisms that do not capture the open and complex nature of the blockchain systems. In this paper, we discuss the current status of modelling of fairness based on a high-level description of blockchains and we exploit multi-agent modelling of fairness for users and miners.