HIP 56: Improved State Channel Disputes

[edakturk14]

HIP 56: Improved State Channel Disputes

• Author(s): @macpie,@michaeldjeffrey, @Vagabond, @abhay, et al
• Start Date: 2022-02-21
• Category: Technical
• Original HIP PR: HIP draft – state channel disputes #366
• Tracking Issue: HIP 56: Improved State Channel Disputes #369 (this)
• Status: Approved

Summary

This HIP describes an update to the dispute mechanism for State Channels that
would improve blockchain scaling, better reconcile Data Transfer activity and
rewards for Hotspots, and address recent issues around large block sizes.

State Channel disputes provide a mechanism to validate the integrity of a State
Channel. Previously, disputes triggered by participating Hotspots contained
redundant information, and increased block size. On a couple of occasions the
number of disputes caused some large blocks to halt chain activity due to
Validators not being able to consume them. This proposal retains the State
Channel integrity check by any participant, but also updates the dispute
mechanism to prevent disputes from halting chain activity.

We propose that the first valid instance of a disputed State Channel that is
accepted by Validators becomes canonical and does the following:

1. All other disputes are marked as invalid and are rejected by the Consensus
   Group.
2. No rewards are distributed to any participant of the State Channel.
3. The State Channel owner will still be slashed of its Data Credits and its
   Data Credit overage. As a note, this point is the current implementation that
   will not be changed with this proposal.

We believe these three steps (with the changes included) will reduce the impact
of State Channel disputes on the overall blockchain and not inadvertently reward
(potentially) colluding actors who could be in control of both the Hotspot and
the Router. This would allow the blockchain to increase the State Channel Grace
Period (described below) and better reward Hotpots in the majority of cases
where Routers are able to close State Channels promptly and Hotspots do not need
to file disputes.

Rendered View

https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/main/0056-state-channel-dispute-strategy.md

[edakturk14]

The HIP has been approved via heliumvote, with +99% voting For HIP 56.

On behalf of the DeWi, the HIP Editors, and the wider Helium community, I am marking this proposal as approved and recommending that the coredev team implement the necessary changes as soon as reasonably possible.