Reputation Consensus Mechanism for Blockchain Based on Information-Centric Networking

The integration of blockchain with Information-Centric Networking (ICN) enhancescontent distribution efficiency in areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and5G/6G communications. This integration implies that the network state information ofICN can significantly impact consensus efficiency. However, the Ethereum Casper FFG consensusalgorithm overlooks the network heterogeneity among consensus nodes, leading toa potential bottleneck in consensus efficiency, especially when nodes with inferior networkquality participate. To address this issue, this paper proposes a multidimensional reputationmodel based on an ICN-enabled blockchain architecture. The model combines onchainstake and network contributions to evaluate the reputation of ICN consensus nodes.Furthermore, a reputation-based hybrid consensus mechanism, RepuICN, is introduced,which enhances the network layer of the Casper FFG algorithm. This mechanism selectshigher-reputation ICN consensus nodes as proposers for checkpoint blocks, mitigatingthe impact of network latency fluctuations on block propagation. Additionally, RepuICNimproves block propagation efficiency through ICN multicast and caching techniques.Simulation results show that, under identical conditions with a network of 5000 nodes and2% ICN nodes, RepuICN reduces broadcast latency by 17% for regular blocks and 61.4% forcheckpoint blocks and achieves 3.4 times higher transaction throughput than Casper FFG.