# Comparative Study of Blockchain Hashing Algorithms with a Proposal for HashLEA
## 2 Related Works  
Recently, blockchain technology has attracted a lot of interest from researchers due to its unique characteristics and wide range of applications. As a foundation for secure, decentralized systems, blockchain is built on strong cryptographic components, including hash functions. Given the rapid progress and challenges in this area, different studies have been conducted to explore various aspects of hash functions for blockchain systems, such as architecture, performance, and cryptographic mechanisms. The following is a list of studies in this area in the literature. [PERSON] et al. [29] conduct an experimental investigation into how the choice of hash functions affects blockchain performance. They replace the default SHA-3 implementation in Ethereum with alternative hash functions, including BLAKE2 and SHA-2, and evaluate their effect on metrics such as throughput, latency, and scalability. The study highlights that  
Figure 1: Supply chain monitoring framework utilizing HashLEA. faster hash functions significantly improved throughput but had mixed effects on latency depending on network conditions and workloads. [PERSON] et al. [33] analyze the avalanche effect in 16 cryptographic hash functions, including MD5, SHA-1, and BLAKE, by assessing metrics such as the strict avalanche criterion and bit independence criterion. The study proceeded to rank the hash functions in question according to their degree of adherence to the aforementioned metrics and proceeded to evaluate their randomness using the randomness toolkit developed by NIST. The findings of the study serve to highlight the importance of the avalanche effect in ensuring the security of cryptographic systems. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [34] present a comparative analysis of cryptographic hash functions in the context of blockchain technology. The study evaluates hash functions such as Whirlpool, MD5, RIPEMD, SHA, and BLAKE based on performance metrics such as frequency and throughput. The authors highlight the critical role of hash algorithms in ensuring the security and scalability of blockchain networks while identifying SHA-256 and SHA-2 as particularly efficient and secure algorithms. [PERSON] et al. [24] explore the intersection of blockchain and IoT, highlighting the challenges of integrating resource-intensive blockchain technology with the constrained environments of IoT devices. The study reviews common and lightweight hash functions, with a particular focus on SPONGENT, PHOTON, and QUARK, and evaluates their performance on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platforms. The results demonstrate the existence of trade-offs between these functions. The results demonstrate that SPONGENT exhibits favorable performance in terms of security and throughput. However, QUARK achieves reduced power and energy consumption with lower variations in security. PHOTON, with its balanced characteristics, is the most suitable for blockchain-IoT applications. This research work has proven the importance of optimizing a hash function to balance computational complexities with those of IoT resources. [PERSON] et al. [35] analyze the performance of cryptographic hash functions in blockchain systems, comparing widely used algorithms like Keccak, RIPEMD160, and SHA-2 with recent ones such as MD4 and EDONR. The study evaluates metrics such as cycles per byte and hash rate, thereby demonstrating the trade-offs between performance and security. Furthermore, the research examines the potential of \"Kupyna\", Ukraine's national standard for use in blockchain applications, offering insights into the selection of efficient and secure hash functions for decentralized systems. In their study, [PERSON] et al. [36] highlight the importance of hash functions in ensuring the security and availability of blockchain technology. They focus on two important security criteria--hiding and puzzle-friendliness--required for a hash function in blockchain applications. They mathematically describe these criteria under the framework of [PERSON]'s theory, which proves their relationship.