Blog > Authors > Prof Aggelos Kiayias

Stablefees and the Decentralized Reserve System

Exploring a new mechanism to help make fees fair, stable, and more predictable over time

10 June 2021 Prof Aggelos Kiayias 7 mins read

Stablefees and the Decentralized Reserve System

Facilitating transactions in cryptocurrency platforms stumbles on the dual utility of the platform’s underlying asset. On the one hand, users can hold and trade it as part of their investment portfolios. On the other hand, it supplies the necessary “fuel” for processing transactions. This duality suggests that the system should have a mechanism for adjusting transaction costs…

Babel fees - denominating transaction costs in native tokens

Introducing a novel mechanism that allows the payment of transaction fees in user-defined tokens on Cardano

25 February 2021 Prof Aggelos Kiayias 8 mins read

Babel fees - denominating transaction costs in native tokens

In Douglas Adams' classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a Babel fish is a creature that allows you to hear any language translated into your own. This fantasy of universal translation ensures meaningful interaction despite the myriad different languages in the galaxy. 

In the cryptocurrency space, smart contract platforms enable the development of a myriad custom tokens…

Blockchain reward sharing - a comparative systematization from first principles

Navigating the diverse landscape of reward-sharing schemes and the choices we have made in the design of Cardano’s reward-sharing scheme

30 November 2020 Prof Aggelos Kiayias 10 mins read

Blockchain reward sharing - a comparative systematization from first principles

In the previous article, we identified the objectives of the reward scheme in Cardano, and we gave general guidelines regarding engaging with the system.

Taking a more high-level view, we will examine from first principles, the general problem of reward sharing in blockchain systems. To recall, the two overarching objectives of any resource-based consensus system is to…

The general perspective on staking in Cardano

Advice for Stakeholders - Delegators and Stake Pool Operators.

13 November 2020 Prof Aggelos Kiayias 13 mins read

The general perspective on staking in Cardano

As a project, decentralization remains arguably our most important and fundamental goal for Cardano. Protocols and parameters provide the foundations for any blockchain. Last week, we outlined some of the planned changes around Cardano parameters and how these will impact the staking ecosystem and thus accelerate our decentralization mission.

Yet the community itself – how it sees itself, how it behaves, and how it sets common standards – is a key factor in the pace of this success. Cardano has been very carefully engineered to provide “by design” all the necessary properties for a blockchain system to operate successfully. However, Cardano is also a social

The Ouroboros path to decentralization

The protocol that powers Cardano and its design philosophy

23 June 2020 Prof Aggelos Kiayias 6 mins read

The Ouroboros path to decentralization

Designing and deploying a distributed ledger is a technically challenging task. What is expected of a ledger is the promise of a consistent view to all participants as well as a guarantee of responsiveness to the continuous flow of events that result from their actions. These two properties, sometimes referred to as persistence and liveness, are the hallmark of distributed…

1

2