From Crypto-Paper to Crypto-Currency - The Cardano Consensus Layer

Explore the Cardano consensus layer in this comprehensive conference talk from RWC 2021. Delve into distributed computation over networks, implementation challenges, and the correctness toolbox. Learn about transaction ledgers, consensus mechanisms, and networking protocols. Discover techniques for testing concurrent code in simulation and understand the importance of session types in network protocols. Examine the block-fetch process, forecasting, and denial of service prevention. Investigate the hard-fork combinator and strategies for de-risking decentralization. Gain insights into careful refinement processes and potential future developments in cryptocurrency consensus systems.

Intro
Overview
Distributed Computation over a Network
Consensus Layer of Cardano
Implementing Correctly or Quickly?
Correctness Toolbox
Separating the Concerns
Transaction Ledger
Consensus and Networking
Testing Concurrent Code in Simulation
Network Protocols: Session Types
Example: Fetching Blocks
Formal Treatment
Connecting theory with implementation
Block-Fetch, Forecasting, Denial of Service
Hard-Fork Combinator
De-Risking Decentralisation
Refine Carefully
Future Work