MetaShard: A Novel Sharding Blockchain Platform for Metaverse Applications

Nguyen, CT; Hoang, DT; Nguyen, DN; Xiao, Y; Niyato, D; Dutkiewicz, E

MetaShard: A Novel Sharding Blockchain Platform for Metaverse Applications

Nguyen, CT Hoang, DT Nguyen, DN Xiao, Y Niyato, D Dutkiewicz, E

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Publisher:: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 2023, PP, (99), pp. 1-14
Issue Date:: 2023-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Nguyen, CT
dc.contributor.author	Hoang, DT
dc.contributor.author	Nguyen, DN
dc.contributor.author	Xiao, Y
dc.contributor.author	Niyato, D
dc.contributor.author	Dutkiewicz, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4268-9286
dc.date.accessioned	2023-11-09T08:46:11Z
dc.date.available	2023-11-09T08:46:11Z
dc.date.issued	2023-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 2023, PP, (99), pp. 1-14
dc.identifier.issn	1536-1233
dc.identifier.issn	1558-0660
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173279
dc.description.abstract	Due to its security, transparency, and flexibility in verifying virtual assets, blockchain has been identified as one of the key technologies for Metaverse. Unfortunately, blockchain-based Metaverse faces serious challenges such as massive resource demands, scalability, and security/privacy concerns. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel sharding-based blockchain framework, namely MetaShard, for Metaverse applications. Particularly, we first develop an effective consensus mechanism, namely Proof-of-Engagement, that can incentivize MUs' data and computing resource contribution. Moreover, to improve the scalability of MetaShard, we propose an innovative sharding management scheme to maximize the network's throughput while protecting the shards from 51% attacks. Since the optimization problem is NP-complete, we develop a hybrid approach that decomposes the problem (using the binary search method) into sub-problems that can be solved effectively by the Lagrangian method. As a result, the proposed approach can obtain solutions in polynomial time, thereby enabling flexible shard reconfiguration and reducing the risk of corruption from the adversary. Extensive numerical experiments show that, compared to the state-of-the-art commercial solvers, our proposed approach can achieve up to 66.6% higher throughput in less than 1/30 running time. Moreover, the proposed approach can achieve global optimal solutions in most experiments.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
dc.relation.ispartof	IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1109/TMC.2023.3290955
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.subject	0805 Distributed Computing, 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 1005 Communications Technologies
dc.subject.classification	Networking & Telecommunications
dc.subject.classification	4006 Communications engineering
dc.subject.classification	4604 Cybersecurity and privacy
dc.subject.classification	4606 Distributed computing and systems software
dc.title	MetaShard: A Novel Sharding Blockchain Platform for Metaverse Applications
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	PP
utslib.for	0805 Distributed Computing
utslib.for	0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
utslib.for	1005 Communications Technologies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - GBDTC - Global Big Data Technologies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Electrical and Data Engineering
utslib.copyright.status	embargoed	*
utslib.copyright.embargo	2025-06-30T00:00:00+1000Z
dc.date.updated	2023-11-09T08:45:57Z
pubs.issue	99
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	PP
utslib.citation.issue	99

Abstract:

Due to its security, transparency, and flexibility in verifying virtual assets, blockchain has been identified as one of the key technologies for Metaverse. Unfortunately, blockchain-based Metaverse faces serious challenges such as massive resource demands, scalability, and security/privacy concerns. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel sharding-based blockchain framework, namely MetaShard, for Metaverse applications. Particularly, we first develop an effective consensus mechanism, namely Proof-of-Engagement, that can incentivize MUs' data and computing resource contribution. Moreover, to improve the scalability of MetaShard, we propose an innovative sharding management scheme to maximize the network's throughput while protecting the shards from 51% attacks. Since the optimization problem is NP-complete, we develop a hybrid approach that decomposes the problem (using the binary search method) into sub-problems that can be solved effectively by the Lagrangian method. As a result, the proposed approach can obtain solutions in polynomial time, thereby enabling flexible shard reconfiguration and reducing the risk of corruption from the adversary. Extensive numerical experiments show that, compared to the state-of-the-art commercial solvers, our proposed approach can achieve up to 66.6% higher throughput in less than 1/30 running time. Moreover, the proposed approach can achieve global optimal solutions in most experiments.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173279