Conthereum: Concurrent Ethereum Optimized Transaction Scheduling for Multi-Core Execution

2025-04-09

AI Summary

To address the scalability bottleneck of low concurrency efficiency and high energy consumption in Ethereum blockchain execution on multi-core processors, this paper pioneers modeling smart contract transaction scheduling as a Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem (FJSS) and proposes a deterministic multi-core concurrent execution framework. The framework comprises: (1) a formal FJSS modeling methodology; (2) an open-source, state-of-the-art deterministic concurrent execution engine; and (3) a dynamic power-aware multi-core load allocation mechanism. Experimental evaluation under Ethereum benchmarks demonstrates near-linear throughput (TPS) scaling with increasing core count and substantial reduction in energy per transaction. The framework achieves superior joint performance in both throughput and energy efficiency compared to existing mainstream approaches.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Plan Execution and Monitoring
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Scalability, Parallel & Distributed Systems
• Search and Optimization: Distributed Search

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Cryptocurrency and smart contracts
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economic aspects of blockchain and cryptocurrencies

Abstract

Blockchain technology has revolutionized decentralized computation, providing high security through transparent cryptographic protocols and immutable data. However, the Blockchain Trilemma-an inherent trade-off between security, scalability, and performance-limits computational efficiency, resulting in low transactions-per-second (TPS) compared to conventional systems like Visa or PayPal. To address this, we introduce Conthereum, a novel concurrent blockchain solution that enhances multi-core usage in transaction processing through a deterministic scheduling scheme. It reformulates smart contract execution as a variant of the Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem (FJSS), optimizing both time and power consumption. Conthereum offers the most efficient open-source implementation compared to existing solutions. Empirical evaluations based on Ethereum, the most widely used blockchain platform, show near-linear throughput increases with available computational power. Additionally, an integrated energy consumption model allows participant to optimize power usage by intelligently distributing workloads across cores. This solution not only boosts network TPS and energy efficiency, offering a scalable and sustainable framework for blockchain transaction processing. The proposed approach also opens new avenues for further optimizations in Ethereum and is adaptable for broader applications in other blockchain infrastructures.

Problem

• Enhancing multi-core usage in Ethereum transaction processing
• Optimizing smart contract execution time and power consumption
• Increasing blockchain throughput and energy efficiency

Innovation

• Deterministic scheduling for multi-core transaction processing
• Smart contract execution as Flexible Job Shop Scheduling
• Integrated energy model optimizes power usage distribution