Abstract
Randomness beacons are services that periodically emit a random number, allowing users to base decisions on the same random value without trusting anyone: ideally, the randomness beacon does not only produce unpredictable values, but is also of low computational complexity for the users, bias-resistant and publicly verifiable. Such randomness beacons can serve as an important primitive for smart contracts in a variety of contexts. This paper first presents a structured security analysis, based on which we then design, implement, and evaluate a trustworthy and efficient randomness beacon. Our approach does not require users to register or run any computationally intensive operations. We then compare different implementation and deployment options on distributed ledgers, and report on an Ethereum smart contract-based lottery using our beacon.
Highlights
A randomness beacon is a service emitting unpredictable random values at regular intervals, defined in 1983 by Michael O
The main purpose of the randomness beacon is not to produce “better” local random numbers than, e.g., using /dev/urandom; it allows users to agree on the same random value
We describe the design and deployment options for our randomness beacon on a smart contract platform and their implications
Summary
A randomness beacon is a service emitting unpredictable random values at regular intervals, defined in 1983 by Michael O. Rabin who used it to add probabilistic security in several protocols [1]. Randomness beacons can help a group of users to agree on some random outcome, even though they do not trust each other. The main purpose of the randomness beacon is not to produce “better” local random numbers than, e.g., using /dev/urandom; it allows users to agree on the same random value. Randomness beacons come with many applications, e.g., in cryptographic, security, and distributed systems protocols. Randomness beacons are considered a “tool of democracy” [2]
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