The Merge Consensus Problem and Its Use in Scalable IoT State Channels

IoT applications often involve non-mutually trusting devices that need to perform complex interactions. Blockchain technologies may prove to be useful in the IoT because they provide a decentralized platform to execute complex logic without having to trust any single entity thanks to smart contracts. However, blockchains often face scalability issues that make their straightforward adoption often impractical in IoT scenarios. This paper presents a new consensus problem, designed to serve as the foundation for a second-layer solution enabling IoT scalable execution of smart contracts. We present an algorithm that addresses this consensus problem in a synchronous setting, assuming a majority of correct processes. The proposed consensus protocol is used to construct a state channel suited for the IoT. An analytical evaluation of the state channel performance is also provided.