Mainstay: A hybrid protocol ensuring ledger temporality and security

The article 'Mainstay: A hybrid protocol ensuring ledger temporality and security' delves into the complexities of blockchain consensus protocols, focusing on the Mainstay protocol as a solution to the challenges faced by divergence consensus mechanisms. It begins with an introduction to consensus protocols and a comparison of various protocols based on their consensus model, security type, method, network model, and key attributes such as safety, liveness, scalability, and ledger temporality. The Mainstay protocol is presented as a hybrid solution that combines a DAG-Ledger with a backbone NC-Chain, utilizing a VDF+QC mechanism to ensure ledger temporality and security. The article details the design and functionality of the Mainstay protocol, including its two-layer architecture, block structures, and consensus mechanisms. It also provides a rigorous security analysis, demonstrating that the Mainstay protocol satisfies the properties of safety and liveness. Additionally, the article presents experimental results that validate the performance and security of the Mainstay protocol compared to other existing blockchain protocols. The article concludes with a discussion of future directions for the Mainstay protocol, including the establishment of an incentive mechanism and the design of a PoS-based blockchain protocol.