SoK: Consensus for Fair Message Ordering

[2411.09981] SoK: Consensus for Fair Message Ordering Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Computer Science > Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing arXiv:2411.09981 (cs) [Submitted on 15 Nov 2024 ( v1 ), last revised 24 Aug 2026 (this version, v4)] Title: SoK: Consensus for Fair Message Ordering Authors: Zhuolun Li , Evangelos Pournaras View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: Distributed ledgers rely on consensus protocols to commit messages in an agreed order. In practice, this order is often chosen for profit, which raises fairness concerns. For example, in decentralized finance, nodes exploit transaction order to extract Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). This paper systematizes the mechanisms at the consensus layer that constrain message ordering in Byzantine fault tolerant systems. We decompose adversarial behavior into three capabilities that affect ordering and analyze each ordering family against them. We organize existing work into FIFO, random, and blind ordering, and compare the metadata and assumptions each requires. We also introduce a new formalization, the $f$-Robust Median Order, which exposes a gap in existing fairness definitions based on timestamps. Finally, we describe a reusable pattern for adding fair ordering to existing BFT consensus protocols. For the protocols we analyze, fair ordering costs 1.5 to 18 times the communication of vanilla consensus, and ordering computation varies by up to five orders of magnitude across families. Subjects: Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing (cs.DC) Cite as: arXiv:2411.09981 [cs.DC] (or arXiv:2411.09981v4 [cs.DC] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2411.09981 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Zhuolun Li [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:33:30 UTC (503 KB) [v2] Sat, 25 Jan 2025 14:57:05 UTC (542 KB) [v3] Fri, 6 Jun 2025 12:09:39 UTC (1,088 KB) [v4] Mon, 24 Aug 2026 08:02:24 UTC (555 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Additional Features Audio Summary Current browse context: cs.DC < prev | next > new | recent | 2024-11 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab)

Related documents

• SoK: Consensus for Fair Message Ordering#670303
• Fair Division of Graphs: Beyond Traceability#799152
• Fair Division of Graphs: Beyond Traceability#797729
• The Order of Recommendation Matters: Structured Exploration for Improving the Fairness of Content Creators#612859
• The Order of Recommendation Matters: Structured Exploration for Improving the Fairness of Content Creators#611382