Ladder - A Convergence-based Structured DAG Blockchain for High Throughput and Low Latency

Learn about Ladder, an innovative blockchain architecture that addresses critical limitations in current Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) blockchain designs through this 17-minute conference presentation from NSDI '25. Explore how researchers from Tianjin University, Jd.Com Inc, North Carolina State University, and Peking University developed a structured twin-chain DAG blockchain with a convergence mechanism to optimize parallel block processing and enhance performance and security. Discover the three key limitations of existing block-DAG designs: high computational overhead from costly block sorting, complex transaction confirmation processes, and vulnerability to balance attacks in pivot chain determination. Examine Ladder's unique twin-chain architecture where designated convergence nodes generate lower-chain blocks to sort forked blocks from the upper-chain, significantly reducing computational overhead and simplifying transaction confirmation. Understand the dynamic committee selection mechanism designed to counter adversarial disruptions by generating special blocks when faulty blocks are detected. Review the comprehensive evaluation results demonstrating Ladder's superior performance in distributed network environments, achieving a 59.6% increase in throughput and 20.9% reduction in latency compared to state-of-the-art methods, making this essential viewing for blockchain researchers, distributed systems engineers, and cryptocurrency developers interested in next-generation blockchain scalability solutions.