Exploring the Scalability, Throughput and Security Characteristics of the Tangle Distributed Ledger Technology through Simulation Analysis

During the past few years, blockchain technologies have attracted substantial attention from researchers, engineers, and enterprises. These technologies provide decentralized platforms to validate different types of transactions without relying on a central authority. Since the advent of the popular Bitcoin network [2], [3], various types of protocols, among them DAG-based distributed ledgers, have been offered to improve the Bitcoin networks shortcomings in the areas of scalability, throughput, and security. Researchers have also been motivated to study blockchain-based applications across multiple domains with novel designs and capabilities [4]. However, when used in such capacities, failures of blockchain networks (BNs) imply catastrophes that extend beyond individuals, organizations, and countries [5]. In light of such mission criticality, the vision of turning BNs into decentralized transaction processing systems that can sustainably and securely compete with the centralized state of the art poses substantial methodological challenges for researchers [5]. Before considered for wide adoption, BN protocols and technologies must be assessed with different analytical and empirical methodologies. In this research, a novel DAG-based distributed ledger, the Tangle, has been studied and several of its features have been investigated through simulation analysis. Contributions of this research are two-fold. First, a Tangle simulator has been designed and implemented based on model-oriented design and development principles. Second, three important characteristics of Tangle networks including scalability, throughput, and their security against double-spending attacks have been investigated.