Chapter 8
Distributed Ledger Technology
Xing Liu, Bahar Farahani, and Farshad Firouzi
The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too
strong to be broken.
Samuel Johnson
Contents
8.1 Introduction to Distributed Ledger Technology and IoT ................................ 394
8.1.1 What Is a Distributed Ledger? .................................................. 394
8.1.2 Blockchain ....................................................................... 395
8.1.3 Types of Blockchain ............................................................. 396
8.1.4 Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) ................................................. 397
8.1.5 Hybrid DLTs Based on Blockchains and DAGs................................ 398
8.1.6 Internet of Things (IoT) ......................................................... 398
8.2 Benefits of DLTs .......................................................................... 399
8.2.1 Blockchain Benefits.............................................................. 399
8.2.2 DAG Benefits .................................................................... 401
8.3 How Blockchain Works ................................................................... 402
8.3.1 Transaction, Block, Ledger, and Blockchain ................................... 403
8.3.2 Transaction Validation and Block Mining ...................................... 404
8.3.3 Smart Contracts .................................................................. 408
8.3.4 Consensus Algorithms ........................................................... 408
8.4 Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) .......................................................... 413
8.4.1 What Is a DAG ................................................................... 413
8.4.2 How IOTA Tangle Works........................................................ 413
8.5 DAG Versus Blockchain .................................................................. 414
X. Liu ()
Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC, Canada
e-mail: xing.liu@kpu.ca
B. Farahani
Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
F. Firouzi
Department of ECE, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
F. Firouzi et al. (eds.), Intelligent Internet of Things,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30367-9_8
393
Distributed Ledger Technology
Xing Liu, Bahar Farahani, and Farshad Firouzi
The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too
strong to be broken.
Samuel Johnson
Contents
8.1 Introduction to Distributed Ledger Technology and IoT ................................ 394
8.1.1 What Is a Distributed Ledger? .................................................. 394
8.1.2 Blockchain ....................................................................... 395
8.1.3 Types of Blockchain ............................................................. 396
8.1.4 Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) ................................................. 397
8.1.5 Hybrid DLTs Based on Blockchains and DAGs................................ 398
8.1.6 Internet of Things (IoT) ......................................................... 398
8.2 Benefits of DLTs .......................................................................... 399
8.2.1 Blockchain Benefits.............................................................. 399
8.2.2 DAG Benefits .................................................................... 401
8.3 How Blockchain Works ................................................................... 402
8.3.1 Transaction, Block, Ledger, and Blockchain ................................... 403
8.3.2 Transaction Validation and Block Mining ...................................... 404
8.3.3 Smart Contracts .................................................................. 408
8.3.4 Consensus Algorithms ........................................................... 408
8.4 Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) .......................................................... 413
8.4.1 What Is a DAG ................................................................... 413
8.4.2 How IOTA Tangle Works........................................................ 413
8.5 DAG Versus Blockchain .................................................................. 414
X. Liu ()
Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC, Canada
e-mail: xing.liu@kpu.ca
B. Farahani
Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
F. Firouzi
Department of ECE, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
F. Firouzi et al. (eds.), Intelligent Internet of Things,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30367-9_8
393