Faircentives
Incentives for Decentralized Systems and Blockchain
Incentive mechanisms are an essential part of decentralized systems and blockchain. The possibility to reward and incentivize participants with tokens is what separates recent decentralized systems from the first generation of peer-to-peer systems. We believe that a well aligned incentive structure will be a major factor deciding on the success or failure of todays decentralized systems. However, many of todays decentralized systems create ad hoc or novel incentive structures.
In this project we mostly focus on the analysis of incentive structures used in the industry today, but also on the design novel mechanisms for rewarding participants with tokens. We employ methods ranging from game theory and theoretical analysis to large scale simulation and experimentation.
We aim to identify and design mechanisms which provide both fairness and resilience to attacks. We are especially interested in mechanisms that provide fair opportunities and inclusiveness for small and new contributors. We study the interplay between incentive mechanisms and system operations, investigating how systems can support the requirements of fair incentivization, while maintaining resilience to attacks, and avoiding performance overheads.
PhD projects
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Arian Baloochestani is doing his PhD on activity rewards and discouragement attacks in committee-based blockchains.
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Vahid Heidaripour Lakhani is doing his PhD on incentive structures in decentralized storage networks.
Collaborators
Master Thesis Projects Associated With DecInc
- Kristian Horve Tjessem: Simulating Swarm’s storage incentive (2023)
Leander Jehl
Associate professor
Design, implementation and verification of reliable distributes systems, including the incentivization of decentralized systems.
