Ecoupon-Chain: Efficient decentralized e-coupon blockchain

Abstract

E-coupons have gradually gained attention with the development of the e-commerce market. The traditional e-coupon system is based on a centralized organization with problems, such as a single point of failure and e-coupon counterfeiting. Blockchain possesses characteristics such as decentralization that can enhance traditional e-coupon systems. In this study, we designed an e-coupon system based on blockchain called Ecoupon-Chain. First, we defined the mini-block, designed the account, block, and transaction structure, and built the system model. Second, we proposed a simple and efficient consensus protocol called Proof of Activeness to improve the system’s throughput and encourage nodes to perform transactions. Finally, we built a prototype of this e-coupon system and conducted security analysis and experimental evaluation on the prototype. The results show that the system can resist typical attacks, such as fork, double spending, replay, and Sybil attacks. The system throughput can be maintained above 1000 transactions per second under specific circumstances. The efficiency of the system is significantly improved compared to that of the existing consensus protocol. We present a simplified prototype of Ecoupon-Chain at https://github.com/YangYi215613/Ecoupon-Chain.