Last Mile of Blockchains: RPC and Node-as-a-service

TL;DR

This paper surveys various methods for end-users to access blockchains, analyzing solutions based on integrity, availability, and privacy, and concludes that running a full node remains the best approach for comprehensive security.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of blockchain access solutions focusing on web communication properties and highlights the importance of full nodes for secure access.

Findings

Running a full node offers the best integrity, availability, and privacy.

Emerging light node solutions vary in security properties.

Future services should prioritize these three key properties.

Abstract

While much research focuses on different methods to secure blockchain, information on the chain needs to be accessed by end-users to be useful. This position paper surveys different ways that end-users may access blockchains. We observe that between the two extremes of running a full node and fully utilizing a trusted third-party service, many solutions regarding light nodes are emerging. We analyze these solutions based on three basic properties of web communication: integrity, availability and privacy. We conclude that currently, the best way to access a blockchain while maintaining these three properties is still to run a full node. We consider it essential that future blockchain accessibility services should be built while considering these three expectations.