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Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 -- Beacon Chain Fork Choice

Notice: This document is a work-in-progress for researchers and implementers.

Table of contents

Introduction

This document is the beacon chain fork choice spec, part of Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0. It assumes the beacon chain state transition function spec.

Fork choice

The head block root associated with a store is defined as get_head(store). At genesis, let store = get_genesis_store(genesis_state) and update store by running:

  • on_tick(time) whenever time > store.time where time is the current Unix time
  • on_block(block) whenever a block block is received
  • on_attestation(attestation) whenever an attestation attestation is received

Notes:

  1. Leap seconds: Slots will last SECONDS_PER_SLOT + 1 or SECONDS_PER_SLOT - 1 seconds around leap seconds. This is automatically handled by UNIX time.
  2. Honest clocks: Honest nodes are assumed to have clocks synchronized within SECONDS_PER_SLOT seconds of each other.
  3. Eth1 data: The large ETH1_FOLLOW_DISTANCE specified in the honest validator document should ensure that state.latest_eth1_data of the canonical Ethereum 2.0 chain remains consistent with the canonical Ethereum 1.0 chain. If not, emergency manual intervention will be required.
  4. Manual forks: Manual forks may arbitrarily change the fork choice rule but are expected to be enacted at epoch transitions, with the fork details reflected in state.fork.
  5. Implementation: The implementation found in this specification is constructed for ease of understanding rather than for optimization in computation, space, or any other resource. A number of optimized alternatives can be found here.

Configuration

Name Value Unit Duration
SAFE_SLOTS_TO_UPDATE_JUSTIFIED 2**3 (= 8) slots 96 seconds

Helpers

LatestMessage

@dataclass(eq=True, frozen=True)
class LatestMessage(object):
    epoch: Epoch
    root: Hash

Store

@dataclass
class Store(object):
    time: uint64
    genesis_time: uint64
    justified_checkpoint: Checkpoint
    finalized_checkpoint: Checkpoint
    best_justified_checkpoint: Checkpoint
    blocks: Dict[Hash, BeaconBlock] = field(default_factory=dict)
    block_states: Dict[Hash, BeaconState] = field(default_factory=dict)
    checkpoint_states: Dict[Checkpoint, BeaconState] = field(default_factory=dict)
    latest_messages: Dict[ValidatorIndex, LatestMessage] = field(default_factory=dict)

get_genesis_store

def get_genesis_store(genesis_state: BeaconState) -> Store:
    genesis_block = BeaconBlock(state_root=hash_tree_root(genesis_state))
    root = signing_root(genesis_block)
    justified_checkpoint = Checkpoint(epoch=GENESIS_EPOCH, root=root)
    finalized_checkpoint = Checkpoint(epoch=GENESIS_EPOCH, root=root)
    return Store(
        time=genesis_state.genesis_time,
        genesis_time=genesis_state.genesis_time,
        justified_checkpoint=justified_checkpoint,
        finalized_checkpoint=finalized_checkpoint,
        best_justified_checkpoint=justified_checkpoint,
        blocks={root: genesis_block},
        block_states={root: genesis_state.copy()},
        checkpoint_states={justified_checkpoint: genesis_state.copy()},
    )

get_current_slot

def get_current_slot(store: Store) -> Slot:
    return Slot((store.time - store.genesis_time) // SECONDS_PER_SLOT)

compute_slots_since_epoch_start

def compute_slots_since_epoch_start(slot: Slot) -> int:
    return slot - compute_start_slot_at_epoch(compute_epoch_at_slot(slot))

get_ancestor

def get_ancestor(store: Store, root: Hash, slot: Slot) -> Hash:
    block = store.blocks[root]
    if block.slot > slot:
        return get_ancestor(store, block.parent_root, slot)
    elif block.slot == slot:
        return root
    else:
        return Bytes32()  # root is older than queried slot: no results.

get_latest_attesting_balance

def get_latest_attesting_balance(store: Store, root: Hash) -> Gwei:
    state = store.checkpoint_states[store.justified_checkpoint]
    active_indices = get_active_validator_indices(state, get_current_epoch(state))
    return Gwei(sum(
        state.validators[i].effective_balance for i in active_indices
        if (i in store.latest_messages 
            and get_ancestor(store, store.latest_messages[i].root, store.blocks[root].slot) == root)
    ))

get_head

def get_head(store: Store) -> Hash:
    # Execute the LMD-GHOST fork choice
    head = store.justified_checkpoint.root
    justified_slot = compute_start_slot_at_epoch(store.justified_checkpoint.epoch)
    while True:
        children = [
            root for root in store.blocks.keys()
            if store.blocks[root].parent_root == head and store.blocks[root].slot > justified_slot
        ]
        if len(children) == 0:
            return head
        # Sort by latest attesting balance with ties broken lexicographically
        head = max(children, key=lambda root: (get_latest_attesting_balance(store, root), root))

should_update_justified_checkpoint

def should_update_justified_checkpoint(store: Store, new_justified_checkpoint: Checkpoint) -> bool:
    """
    To address the bouncing attack, only update conflicting justified
    checkpoints in the fork choice if in the early slots of the epoch.
    Otherwise, delay incorporation of new justified checkpoint until next epoch boundary.

    See https://ethresear.ch/t/prevention-of-bouncing-attack-on-ffg/6114 for more detailed analysis and discussion.
    """
    if compute_slots_since_epoch_start(get_current_slot(store)) < SAFE_SLOTS_TO_UPDATE_JUSTIFIED:
        return True

    new_justified_block = store.blocks[new_justified_checkpoint.root]
    if new_justified_block.slot <= compute_start_slot_at_epoch(store.justified_checkpoint.epoch):
        return False
    if not (
        get_ancestor(store, new_justified_checkpoint.root, store.blocks[store.justified_checkpoint.root].slot) ==
        store.justified_checkpoint.root
    ):
        return False

    return True

Handlers

on_tick

def on_tick(store: Store, time: uint64) -> None:
    previous_slot = get_current_slot(store)

    # update store time
    store.time = time

    current_slot = get_current_slot(store)
    # Not a new epoch, return
    if not (current_slot > previous_slot and compute_slots_since_epoch_start(current_slot) == 0):
        return
    # Update store.justified_checkpoint if a better checkpoint is known
    if store.best_justified_checkpoint.epoch > store.justified_checkpoint.epoch:
        store.justified_checkpoint = store.best_justified_checkpoint

on_block

def on_block(store: Store, block: BeaconBlock) -> None:
    # Make a copy of the state to avoid mutability issues
    assert block.parent_root in store.block_states
    pre_state = store.block_states[block.parent_root].copy()
    # Blocks cannot be in the future. If they are, their consideration must be delayed until the are in the past.
    assert store.time >= pre_state.genesis_time + block.slot * SECONDS_PER_SLOT
    # Add new block to the store
    store.blocks[signing_root(block)] = block
    # Check block is a descendant of the finalized block
    assert (
        get_ancestor(store, signing_root(block), store.blocks[store.finalized_checkpoint.root].slot) ==
        store.finalized_checkpoint.root
    )
    # Check that block is later than the finalized epoch slot
    assert block.slot > compute_start_slot_at_epoch(store.finalized_checkpoint.epoch)
    # Check the block is valid and compute the post-state
    state = state_transition(pre_state, block, True)
    # Add new state for this block to the store
    store.block_states[signing_root(block)] = state

    # Update justified checkpoint
    if state.current_justified_checkpoint.epoch > store.justified_checkpoint.epoch:
        store.best_justified_checkpoint = state.current_justified_checkpoint
        if should_update_justified_checkpoint(store, state.current_justified_checkpoint):
            store.justified_checkpoint = state.current_justified_checkpoint

    # Update finalized checkpoint
    if state.finalized_checkpoint.epoch > store.finalized_checkpoint.epoch:
        store.finalized_checkpoint = state.finalized_checkpoint

on_attestation

def on_attestation(store: Store, attestation: Attestation) -> None:
    target = attestation.data.target

    # Attestations must be from the current or previous epoch 
    current_epoch = compute_epoch_at_slot(get_current_slot(store))
    # Use GENESIS_EPOCH for previous when genesis to avoid underflow
    previous_epoch = current_epoch - 1 if current_epoch > GENESIS_EPOCH else GENESIS_EPOCH
    assert target.epoch in [current_epoch, previous_epoch]
    # Cannot calculate the current shuffling if have not seen the target
    assert target.root in store.blocks

    # Attestations cannot be from future epochs. If they are, delay consideration until the epoch arrives
    base_state = store.block_states[target.root].copy()
    assert store.time >= base_state.genesis_time + compute_start_slot_at_epoch(target.epoch) * SECONDS_PER_SLOT

    # Store target checkpoint state if not yet seen
    if target not in store.checkpoint_states:
        process_slots(base_state, compute_start_slot_at_epoch(target.epoch))
        store.checkpoint_states[target] = base_state
    target_state = store.checkpoint_states[target]

    # Attestations can only affect the fork choice of subsequent slots.
    # Delay consideration in the fork choice until their slot is in the past.
    assert store.time >= (attestation.data.slot + 1) * SECONDS_PER_SLOT

    # Get state at the `target` to validate attestation and calculate the committees
    indexed_attestation = get_indexed_attestation(target_state, attestation)
    assert is_valid_indexed_attestation(target_state, indexed_attestation)

    # Update latest messages
    for i in indexed_attestation.attesting_indices:
        if i not in store.latest_messages or target.epoch > store.latest_messages[i].epoch:
            store.latest_messages[i] = LatestMessage(epoch=target.epoch, root=attestation.data.beacon_block_root)