Some dependencies of Aleph BFT

[fishseabowl]

Currently we choose AlephBTF as the consensus protocol. To help with understanding, this issue lists some requirements/dependencies for AlephBFT (in development):

1. Erasure Coding: This is to split information (data) i into n chunks, and only need k chunks to restore i

2. Merkle Trees: This is to validate the integrity of common history DAG(Directed Acyclic Graph)

3. Reliable Broadcast (Atomic Broadcast): This ensures that all parties receive an input value v

4. Threshold Cryptography(MultiSignature): This is to create common randomness(SecureBits). Due to FLP-impossibility, consensus cannot be reached without randomness in the protocol.

Reference: Aleph: Efficient Atomic Broadcast in Asynchronous Networks with Byzantine Nodes