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This paper summarises the intersection of Web3 and AI technologies, synergies between these technologies, and gaps that we suggest exist in the conception of the possible integrations of these technologies. The summary is informed by a comprehensive literature review of current academic and industry papers, analyst reports, and Ethereum research community blogposts. We focus our contribution on the perceived gaps and detail some novel approaches that would benefit the blockchain/Web3 ecosystem. We believe that the overview presented in this paper will help guide researchers interested in the intersection of Web3 and AI technologies., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures

Immediate settlement, or single-slot finality (SSF), is a long-term goal for Ethereum. The growing active validator set size is placing an increasing computational burden on the network, making SSF more challenging. EIP-7251 aims to reduce the number of validators by giving stakers the option to merge existing validators. Key to the success of this proposal therefore is whether stakers choose to merge their validators once EIP-7251 is implemented. It is natural to assume stakers participate only if they anticipate greater expected utility (risk-adjusted returns) as a single large validator. In this paper, we focus on one of the duties that a validator performs, viz. being the proposer for the next block. This duty can be quite lucrative, but happens infrequently. Based on previous analysis, we may assume that EIP-7251 implies no change to the security of the protocol. We confirm that the probability of a validator being selected as block proposer is equivalent under each consolidation regime. This result ensures that the decision of one staker to merge has no impact on the opportunity of another to propose the next block, in turn ensuring there is no major systemic change to the economics of the protocol with respect to proposer selection., Comment: 15 pages

The concept of 'Stateless Ethereum' was conceived with the primary aim of mitigating Ethereum's unbounded state growth. The key facilitator of Stateless Ethereum is through the introduction of 'witnesses' into the ecosystem. The changes and potential consequences that these additional data packets pose on the network need to be identified and analysed to ensure that the Ethereum ecosystem can continue operating securely and efficiently. In this paper we propose a Bayesian Network model, a probabilistic graphical modelling approach, to capture the key factors and their interactions in Ethereum mainnet, the public Ethereum blockchain, focussing on the changes being introduced by Stateless Ethereum to estimate the health of the resulting Ethereum ecosystem. We use a mixture of empirical data and expert knowledge, where data are unavailable, to quantify the model. Based on the data and expert knowledge available to use at the time of modelling, the Ethereum ecosystem is expected to remain healthy following the introduction of Stateless Ethereum., Comment: In Proceedings MARS 2022, arXiv:2203.09299

Atomic Crosschain Transaction technology allows composable programming across private Ethereum blockchains. It allows for inter-contract and inter-blockchain function calls that are both synchronous and atomic: if one part fails, the whole call graph of function calls is rolled back. It is not based on existing techniques such as Hash Time Locked Contracts, relay chains, block header transfer, or trusted intermediaries. BLS Threshold Signatures are used to prove to validators on one blockchain that information came from another blockchain and that a majority of the validators of that blockchain agree on the information. Coordination Contracts are used to manage the state of a Crosschain Transaction and as a repository of Blockchain Public Keys. Dynamic code analysis and signed nested transactions are used together with live argument checking to ensure execution only occurs if the execution results in valid state changes. Contract Locking and Lockability enable atomic updates., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 3 code listings. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1911.08083

The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory, or HabEx, has been designed to be the Great Observatory of the 2030s. For the first time in human history, technologies have matured sufficiently to enable an affordable space-based telescope mission capable of discovering and characterizing Earthlike planets orbiting nearby bright sunlike stars in order to search for signs of habitability and biosignatures. Such a mission can also be equipped with instrumentation that will enable broad and exciting general astrophysics and planetary science not possible from current or planned facilities. HabEx is a space telescope with unique imaging and multi-object spectroscopic capabilities at wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to near-IR. These capabilities allow for a broad suite of compelling science that cuts across the entire NASA astrophysics portfolio. HabEx has three primary science goals: (1) Seek out nearby worlds and explore their habitability; (2) Map out nearby planetary systems and understand the diversity of the worlds they contain; (3) Enable new explorations of astrophysical systems from our own solar system to external galaxies by extending our reach in the UV through near-IR. This Great Observatory science will be selected through a competed GO program, and will account for about 50% of the HabEx primary mission. The preferred HabEx architecture is a 4m, monolithic, off-axis telescope that is diffraction-limited at 0.4 microns and is in an L2 orbit. HabEx employs two starlight suppression systems: a coronagraph and a starshade, each with their own dedicated instrument., Comment: Full report: 498 pages. Executive Summary: 14 pages. More information about HabEx can be found here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/habex/

Supply chains lend themselves to blockchain technology, but certain challenges remain, especially around invoice financing. For example, the further a supplier is removed from the final consumer product, the more difficult it is to get their invoices financed. Moreover, for competitive reasons, retailers and manufacturers do not want to disclose their supply chains. However, upstream suppliers need to prove that they are part of a `stable' supply chain to get their invoices financed, which presents the upstream suppliers with huge, and often unsurmountable, obstacles to get the necessary finance to fulfil the next order, or to expand their business. Using a fictitious supply chain use case, which is based on a real world use case, we demonstrate how these challenges have the potential to be solved by combining more advanced and specialised blockchain technologies with other technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. We describe how atomic crosschain functionality can be utilised across private blockchains to retrieve the information required for an invoice financier to make informed decisions under uncertainty, and consider the effect this decision has on the overall stability of the supply chain., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables

Public blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin do not give enterprises the privacy they need for many of their business processes. Consequently consortiums are exploring private blockchains to keep their membership and transactions private. Ethereum Private Sidechains is a private blockchain technology which allows many blockchains to be operated in parallel. Communication is needed between Ethereum Private Sidechains to allow a function in a contract on one sidechain to execute function calls which return values from, or update the state of, another sidechain. We propose a crosschain technique which allows transactions to be executed atomically across sidechains, introduce a new mechanism for proving values across sidechains, describe a transaction locking mechanism which works in the context of blockchain to enable atomic transactions, and a methodology for providing a global time-out across sidechains. We outline the programming model to be used with this technology and provide as an example, a variable amount atomic swap contract for exchanging value between sidechains. Although this paper presents Atomic Crosschain Transaction technology in the context of Ethereum Private Sidechains, we discuss how this technology can be readily applied to many blockchain systems to provide cross-blockchain transactions., Comment: 40 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables, 2 listings

There appears to be an insatiable desire for spawning new bespoke blockchains to harness the functionality provided by blockchain technologies, resulting in a constant stream of blockchain start-up companies entering the market with their own unique vision and mission. Some target a particular niche market such as supply chain and financial services, while others strive to differentiate themselves from the increasingly saturated market by offering new functionality. This dynamic and constantly changing blockchain ecosystem makes it very challenging to keep abreast of all the latest breakthroughs and research. It is evident that there is also a growing desire to collaborate with others developing blockchain solutions, which brings new impetus to blockchain interoperability research. We review the strategies that some key players in the blockchain ecosystem have implemented, or are proposing to develop, to satisfy this increasing demand for cross-chain communication and transactions between sidechains. Interoperability presents a complex and challenging stumbling block to the wider uptake of blockchain technology. We find that although there is a plethora of blockchains and interoperability implementations, or proposals, at a higher level of abstraction there is only a handful of approaches. However, the way they are implemented can differ quite substantially. We present a summary of the reviews we conducted in a table for ease of comparing and contrasting., Comment: 8 pages