arXiv subjects

Claudio Tessone

Publications and source records attributed to Claudio Tessone.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Empirical and Theoretical Analysis of Liquid Staking Protocols

Liquid staking has become the largest category of decentralized finance protocols in terms of total value locked. However, few studies exist on its implementation designs or underlying risks. The liquid staking protocols allow for earning staking rewards without the disadvantage of locking the capital at the validators. Yet, they are seen by some as a threat to the Proof-of-Stake blockchain security. This paper is the first work that classifies liquid staking implementations. It analyzes the historical performance of major liquid staking tokens in comparison to the traditional staking for the largest Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Furthermore, the research investigates the impact of centralization, maximum extractable value and the migration of Ethereum from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake on the tokens' performance. Examining the tracking error of the liquid stacking providers to the staking rewards shows that they are persistent and cannot be explained by macro-variables of the currency, such as the variance or return.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2022

Consensus formation on heterogeneous networks

Reaching consensus -- a macroscopic state where the system constituents display the same microscopic state -- is a necessity in multiple complex socio-technical and techno-economic systems: their correct functioning ultimately depends on it. In many distributed systems -- of which blockchain-based applications are a paradigmatic example -- the process of consensus formation is crucial not only for the emergence of a leading majority but for the very functioning of the system. We build a minimalistic network model of consensus formation on blockchain systems for quantifying how central nodes -- with respect to their average distance to others -- can leverage on their position to obtain competitive advantage in the consensus process. We show that in a wide range of network topologies, the probability of forming a majority can significantly increase depending on the centrality of nodes that initiate the spreading. Further, we study the role that network topology plays on the consensus process: we show that central nodes in scale-free networks can win consensus in the network even if they broadcast states significantly later than peripheral ones.

cs.SI↗

arXiv2020

Bitcoin Transaction Networks: an overview of recent results

Cryptocurrencies are distributed systems that allow exchanges of native (and non-) tokens among participants. The complete historical bookkeeping and its wide availability opens up an unprecedented possibility, i.e. that of understanding the evolution of their network structure while gaining useful insight on the relationships between user' behaviour and cryptocurrency pricing in exchange markets. In this contribution we review some of the most recent results concerning the structural properties of Bitcoin Transaction Networks, a generic name referring to a set of different constructs: the Bitcoin Address Network, the Bitcoin User Network and the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The picture that emerges is that of system growing over time, which becomes increasingly sparse and whose mesoscopic structural organization is characterised by the presence of an increasingly significant core-periphery structure. Such a peculiar topology is matched by a highly uneven distribution of bitcoins, a result suggesting that Bitcoin is becoming an increasingly centralized system at different levels.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2018

Antagonistic Structural Patterns in Complex Networks

Identifying and explaining the structure of complex networks at different scales has become an important problem across disciplines. At the mesoscale, modular architecture has attracted most of the attention. At the macroscale, other arrangements --e.g. nestedness or core-periphery-- have been studied in parallel, but to a much lesser extent. However, empirical evidence increasingly suggests that characterizing a network with a unique pattern typology may be too simplistic, since a system can integrate properties from distinct organizations at different scales. Here, we explore the relationship between some of those organizational patterns: two at the mesoscale (modularity and in-block nestedness); and one at the macroscale (nestedness). We analytically show that nestedness can be used to provide approximate bounds for modularity, with exact results in an idealized scenario. Specifically, we show that nestedness and modularity are antagonistic. Furthermore, we evince that in-block nestedness provides a parsimonious transition between nested and modular networks, taking properties of both. Far from a mere theoretical exercise, understanding the boundaries that discriminate each architecture is fundamental, to the extent modularity and nestedness are known to place heavy constraints on the stability of several dynamical processes, specially in ecology.

physics.soc-ph↗