AAMAS-2019 Tutorial

Distributed Ledger Technology and Multi-Agent Systems (Half-day)


PRESENTERS

Contributing slides from:

ABSTRACT

This tutorial seeks to introduce multi-agent systems researchers to the theoretical and implementation aspects of the emerging topic of Distributed Ledger Technlogies, while outlining ways in which multi-agent systems research can be re-applied into this emerging domain. Briefly, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) (including blockchains) enable easy dissemination of data between self-interested agents in a tamper-proof way. Distributed ledgers achieve this without a trusted central coordinator through a peer-to-peer network of agents who reach agreement on which data will be saved and shared (so each agent has a copy of the same accurate data). In this tutorial we will cover:

  1. The basic definitions of distributed ledger technology;
  2. How the agents reach agreement of what data is contained within the distributed ledger;
  3. Example distributed ledger and multi-agent system crossover research; and
  4. Engineering considerations when implementing systems that incorporate distributed ledger technology.


TUTORIAL NOTES

Our tutorial slides are available here


PRESENTERS' SHORT BIOS

The presenters at AAMAS will be:

Luke Riley: Post Doctoral Research Associate at King’s College London. He is a member of the Trusted and Transparent Voting Systems (VOLT) project funded by the EPSRC looking into using Distributed ledger technology for voting and corporate governance applications. Through the VOLT project, Riley has performed an internal evaluation of consensus protocols and implemented multiple distributed ledger technology prototypes on the Ethereum, Hyperledger Burrow and Quorum blockchains. He has also recently been appointed as the principal investigator on an Impact Accelerator project entitled “Improving the Delegated Proof-of-Stake Consensus Protocol”, which will seek to implement recent advances of social choice theory into the EOS and Lisk blockchains. Riley has also performed multiple blockchain presentations in a variety of environments, for academics, company partners and politicians, including a recent guest lecture for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants regarding cryptocurrencies for 1800 online attendees. 
  Luke Riley
    King's College London
    luke.riley@kcl.ac.uk
Grammateia Kotsialou: Post Doctoral Research Associate at King’s College London. She is also a member of the Trusted and Transparent Voting Systems (VOLT). Through the VOLT project, Kotsialou, has investigated how voting theory that can be applied to Distributed Ledger Technology. In particular, she has been investigating election systems that allow for delegative voting (where a person’s vote is temporarily given to another voter). Kotsialou has given a variety of talks on the distributed ledger topic. For instance: she gave oral evidence to the UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee on the topic of digital and cryptocurrencies; she presented on the link between online voting, liquid democracy and blockchain technology to London’s Redbridge Council; and she partook in a podcast on Blockchain, Governance and Trust for King’s College London’s Centre for the Study of Governance and Society. 
  Grammateia Kotsialou
    King's College London
    grammateia.kotsialou@kcl.ac.uk
With contributing slides from:

Patrick McCorry: Lecturer in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London. He was the first UK awarded Ph.D in the Distributed Ledger Technology domain. He has produced papers on Distributed Ledger Technology consensus protocols and side chains. He is currently the principal investigator for an Ethereum blockchain funded project investigating the implementation of state channels. 
  Patrick McCorry
    King's College London
    patrick.mccorry@kcl.ac.uk
Peter McBurney: Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London. McBurney is the King’s College London principal investigator for the VOLT project and is co-investigator for the Impact Accelerator project. McBurney created and taught the first distributed ledger technology module at King’s College London. He has also gave multiple lecturers on distributed ledger technology to a variety of audiences, such as academics, lawyers and bankers. McBurney has led a project to implement a prototype blockchain for foreign currency transactions in a global bank, and advised a consortium of energy companies and banks on the design and implementation of a distributed ledger for energy commodity trades. For this second project, he was also part of the assessment team evaluating prototype systems across all leading blockchain technologies created by nine major global technology providers. 
  Peter McBurney
    King's College London
    peter.mcburney@kcl.ac.uk