Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Accelerated Ordering Service for Distributed Ledgers

Objective

Distributed ledgers (DLs), also called blockchains, have the potential of transforming the ways individuals and businesses interact. While today a trusted third party, such as a bank, is required to guarantee that transactions among these entities are performed correctly, with DLs it is possible to delegate this task to a distributed computer network that relies on cryptographic operations and sophisticated distributed consensus algorithms to ensure that transactions are recorded durably and in a tamper-free manner. As a result, DLs have the potential to reduce the cost of transactions and the associated latencies dramatically.

However, the adoption of DLs outside of crypto-currency use-cases has been slow partially due to their low performance compared to traditional data management systems. This stems mostly from the constraints and design choices inherited from the first public blockchains, that targeted public, geo-distributed, operation. Today, however, most industry use-cases require permissioned access to the ledger and involve nodes that are geographically close to each other (e.g. in a shipping port). This prompts a redesign of DLs and allows for using various hardware acceleration features to increase their performance.

In the ACCORD project, we aim to increase distributed ledger throughput by at least an order of magnitude, while lowering latencies by a similar factor. To achieve this, we focus on the core component of DL systems, namely, distributed consensus that is used to establish an absolute order of transactions. This ordering operation (service) is typically the main performance bottleneck in DLs. To fully exploit emerging network technologies and to overcome stagnating CPU performance, we will use hardware acceleration (i.e. FPGAs) to offload the steps required by the ordering service. The outcome of this project is a DL design with performance that allows it to be deployed in use-cases in which DLs are inadequate today (e.g. trading).

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

FUNDACION IMDEA SOFTWARE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 172 932,48
Address
CAMPUS DE MONTEGANCEDO SN
28223 Pozuelo De Alarcon
Spain

See on map

Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 172 932,48
My booklet 0 0