An ❗ experimental & WIP ❗ implementation of the IBFT consensus protocol, written in Python.

This implementation is based on the Istanbul BFT Consensus Algorithm.

• Python3
  • Run make deps to install all the required Python packages
• RabbitMQ Server
  • Installing on Ubuntu:

      sudo apt-get install rabbitmq-server

• Even number consensus

  • The base Consensus class attempts to form consensus on some even number
  • To launch a testnet of the base Consensus class, run ./start_network.sh NUM_NODES ROUND_DURATION BYZ_QUORUM RC_THRESHOLD, where:
    • NUM_NODES is the number of nodes in the network
    • ROUND_DURATION is the duration (in seconds) of the IBFT protocol round
    • BYZ_QUORUM is the number of nodes corresponding to a Byzantine quorum
    • RC_THRESHOLD is the number of nodes corresponding to a round change threshold

• drand consensus

  • The IBFT protocol will form consensus over drand randomness for a given drand round number
  • To launch a 4-node testnet, run ./start_drand_network.sh ROUND_DURATION DRAND_ROUND, where:
    • ROUND_DURATION is the duration (in seconds) of the IBFT protocol round
    • DRAND_ROUND is the drand round number on whose output consensus will be formed
  • There are 4 public HTTP endpoints to access drand randomness. The leader uses the first, and the other 3 nodes each use one of the rest:
    • (Cloudflare) https://drand.cloudflare.com
    • (Protocol Labs) https://api.drand.sh
    • (Protocol Labs) https://api2.drand.sh
    • (Protocol Labs) https://api3.drand.sh
  • Learn more about drand at https://drand.love/

• Lighthouse Eth2 data consensus

  • The IBFT protocol will form consensus over Eth2 data fetched from a Lighthouse client
  • To launch a testnet, run ./start_lighthouse_network.sh NUM_NODES ROUND_DURATION BYZ_QUORUM RC_THRESHOLD LIGHTHOUSE_API ETH2_SLOT, where:
    • LIGHTHOUSE_API is the Ligthouse HTTP endpoint for fetching data
    • ETH2_SLOT is the Eth2 slot for which consensus will be formed on the corresponding block in the fork choice of the Lighthouse client