2020/03/31 by Hector Sanjuan, Samuli Poyhtari, Sanjuan, Hector +5 · 1 voice
Computer Science · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) #cs.NI
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2004.00107
arxiv published 2020/03/31 · arxiv updated 2020/04/27
We study Merkle-DAGs as a transport and persistence layer for Conflict-Free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs), coining the term Merkle-CRDTs and providing an overview of the different concepts, properties, advantages and limitations involved. We show how Merkle-DAGs can act as logical clocks giving Merkle-CRDTs the potential to greatly simplify the design and implementation of convergent data types in systems with weak messaging layer guarantees and a very large number of replicas. Merkle-CRDTs can leverage highly scalable distributed technologies like DHTs and PubSub algorithms running underneath to take advantage of the security and de-duplication properties of content-addressing. Examples of such content-oriented systems could include peer-to-peer content exchange and synchronisation applications between opportunistically connected mobile devices, IoT devices or user applications running in a web browser.