BSafe.network Layer 2 Technology Competition
Call for proposal and rules of competition
December 8, 2017
BSafe.network
1. Background of BSafe.network affiliated competition series and reasons for holding
layer 2 competition

Nowadays, many cryptocurrency projects and blockchain based projects are becoming
reality, and there are a large number of technologies and implementations. The
development of theory and technology to make blockchains mature enough for actual
applications is important if we are to provide a foundation for building upon, much likewhat happened with the Internet itself. Scaling Bitcoin and other academic conferences
are the places to find the future progress of blockchain technology. In addition to suchconferences, we need a place to provide scientific evidence to evaluate and compare
blockchain technologies. This evidence is not limited to performance, but also security,privacy, game theory, economics, and regulation. BSafe.network is the neutral
academic research test network by international universities with 24 universities
currently participating. BSafe.network plans to hold a series of open technology
competitions on many aspects of blockchain technologies. The aims of the open
competition are:●●●●●facilitating development and progress of theory,
conducting technology verification over BSafe.network,
providing review by university researchers/professors,
providing the source of scientific/academic results, andpublishing technically reviewed software.

Currently, "layer 2 technology for blockchain" is a category of technology to enhanceblockchain based transactions by connecting the decentralized nature of blockchain andactual applications by segregating a huge number of transactions. There are also other1

types of layer 2 technology to enhance privacy. Lightning network and TumbleBit are
examples of Layer 2 technologies. Because layer 2 protocols provide different trustmodels than blockchains, there may be trade-offs among performance, security, privacy
and so on. This competition aims to have deep and scientific knowledge of designingand​ ​evaluating layer 2 technology to facilitate further research and development of layer
2 technology.
2. Goals
The goals of this competition are● Collecting attack models on layer 2 networks,● building measurement of security and performance of layer 2 technology，● better understanding the trade-offs of using layer 2 technology.
This competition does not aim to select some technologies as standards or candidatesof standards. It aims to provide public academia-backed data and research results.
Outcomes to the public are as follows.
● Program codes: cc-by license○ Layer 2 attack software codes○ Evaluation software codes/platform● Evaluation data for each proposal● Common evaluation dataset
As byproducts of this competition, we can provide public security testing theory andtools for Layer 2 technologies.
3. Category of the competition
At the first competition, we conduct the competition for evaluation technology.
We call for technology evaluation methodology and software for layer 2 technology.
They include common datasets for evaluation. Please refer to section 4 for evaluation
criteria to be considered.

4. Evaluation method
In this competition, we evaluate each proposal in two ways; theoretical evaluation andexperimental evaluation. Theoretical evaluation is reviewing submitted technicaldocuments by university researchers through a scientific review process. Experimental
evaluation is performing experiments for each submission using BSafe.network isolated
research test network by installing submitted software and running each blockchain
network for three months, with evaluation datasets. Experiments include not only2

performance evaluation but also security evaluation and attacks performed by university
researchers.

5. Evaluation Metrics
Supposed evaluation metrics include but not limited to
1. Performancea. Number of transactions/sec
b. Network latency
2. Security/Trusta. Resistance to fault/crash/attack to nodes
b. Degree of decentralizationc. Resistance to DoS attack to make layer 2 transactions faild. Scenario and data set to evaluatee. Availability of layer 2 nodes3. Privacy/Fungibility
a. Correlation among transactions
b. Unlinkability among transactions
c. Unlinkability to identity
6. Schedule
Call for submission start: December 8, 2017

Submission of expression of interest: 23:59 UTC April 6
Full submission deadline: ​May 25, 2018 UTC 23:59

Evaluation and experimentation start: May 21, 2018
Disclosure of a list of proposals: May 30, 2018
Evaluation and experimentation end: July 31, 2018
Announcement of a winner and excellent proposals: August, 2018
Technical presentation and awarding ceremony: September, 2018
7. Submission procedure
Anyone can submit a proposal to this competition, but need to meet the following
procedure and submission requirements.
Each submitter must submit the following.
1. Cover sheeta. Name of submitter(s) with the corresponding submitterb. Email addressc. Name of technology
2. Technical documents3

a. Design rationale
b. Algorithm specification and supporting documents
c. Self-evaluation documents in security and efficiency
d. Intellectual property disclosure
3. Software codea. Any programming language is acceptableb. Installation documentation is needed.
c. Providing installation package is recommended.
All submitters need to carefully submit the program code to avoid security vulnerabilities
and bugs. Before running software over BSafe.network, we will conduct the security
analysis and source code check. If we found any major problem in the code, theproposal is not considered for the competition. If the evaluating committee judges thatthe technical documents do not contain enough information and data for theoreticalevaluation, the proposal is not considered for the competition. Note that no codechanges are allowed after submission.
8. B-Prize
We are planning to award a winner and excellent proposals "B-Prize" with certain
amount of money. Details will be announced when it is decided.
9. Note on business neutrality
The layer 2 technology competition focuses on providing technical knowledge to help
further research and development. The result does not endorse anything about otheraspects including soundness of business, exchange rates of cryptocurrencies andtokens. To preserve business neutrality, we do not evaluate any proposal withexisting/upcoming plans of ICO or selling tokens.
10. Evaluation committee (alphabetical order)
Chen Feng, University of British Columbia
Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro, Telecom Sud Paris
Ethan Heilman, Boston University
Jordi Herrera Joancomartí, ​Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Jameson Lopp, BitGo
Jeremy Rubin, Bitcoin Core Contributor
Rusty Russell, Blockstream
Shigeya Suzuki, Keio University
Other committee members will be added after confirmation.
411. Contact and submission
E-mail: layer2.competition@bsafe.network
Website: http://bsafe.network
Revision history

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December 8, 2017: Initial version
January 31, 2018: Add note on business neutrality
March 20, 2018: Add evaluating committee member
March 29, 2018: Add process of expression of proposal
April 21, 2018: Focus to evaluation and extension of full proposal

About BSafe.network
BSafe.network is an international and neutral research test network for blockchain
technology. It plays a similar role as what NSFNET and BSD did for the development of
the internet technology, for blockchain technology. The network consists of international
universities to preserve neutrality, and as of December 8, 24 universities from North
America, Europe, Asia and Africa are a part of BSafe.network.

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