Sharding

Abstract

This encyclopedia entry provides a comprehensive overview of sharding techniques in blockchain and distributed systems. Sharding is a database partitioning technique adapted for blockchain networks to achieve scalability by dividing the network into smaller committees called shards that process transactions in parallel. We discuss the key challenges in blockchain sharding, including maintaining security across shards, preventing cross-shard attacks, and ensuring load balancing. The entry examines different sharding approaches implemented in various blockchain protocols and highlights the tradeoffs between scalability, security, and decentralization in sharded systems.

Citation

@Inbook{Kannan2025,
author="Kannan, Sreeram
and Rana, Ranvir
and Viswanath, Pramod",
editor="Jajodia, Sushil
and Samarati, Pierangela
and Yung, Moti",
title="Sharding",
bookTitle="Encyclopedia of Cryptography, Security and Privacy",
year="2025",
publisher="Springer Nature Switzerland",
address="Cham",
pages="2394--2398",
isbn="978-3-030-71522-9",
doi="10.1007/978-3-030-71522-9_1669",
url="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71522-9_1669"
}