A Review of Blockchain Rewarding Strategies and Corresponding Consensus Protocols

Abstract

The development of blockchain technology has facilitated its application in many areas of life due to its ability to enable decentralization in processing and storage. To support blockchain's application in various fields, its algorithms, and consensus protocols should be developed. Nowadays, there are many consensus protocols, each of which can be applied to the appropriate field, considering the cost of each protocol. Users should be motivated to use blockchain and participate in its processes. Considering the processing, communication, and storage costs, effective reward mechanisms are necessary to compensate users and encourage participation. Therefore, this study investigates and reviews a variety of blockchain consensus protocols and corresponding reward strategies. The study analyses twenty-two consensus protocols, explaining how they work, and their advantages and disadvantages. In addition, this paper discusses the types of reward strategies, their sources, limitations, and future. According to the nature of consensus protocols, they are classified into seven categories, which are computational-based, wealth-based, behavioral-based, fairness-based, fault-tolerance-based, leader-based, and transactional-based. The study aims to provide information on the future paths of blockchain consensus mechanisms, promoting a more profound understanding of their capabilities and constraints in many situations.