Robustness of the Tangle 2.0 Consensus

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the performance of the Tangle 2.0 consensus protocol in a Byzantine environment. We use an agent-based simulation model that incorporates the main features of the Tangle 2.0 consensus protocol. Our experimental results demonstrate that the Tangle 2.0 protocol is robust to the bait-and-switch attack up to the theoretical upper bound of the adversary's 33% voting weight. We further show that the common coin mechanism in Tangle 2.0 is necessary for robustness against powerful adversaries. Moreover, the experimental results confirm that the protocol can achieve around 1s confirmation time in typical scenarios and that the confirmation times of non-conflicting transactions are not affected by the presence of conflicts.