Blockchain performance has historically faced challenges posed by the throughput limitations of consensus algorithms. Recent breakthroughs in research have successfully alleviated these constraints by introducing a modular architecture that decouples consensus from execution. The move toward independent optimization of the consensus layer has shifted attention to the execution layer. While concurrent transaction execution is a promising solution for increasing throughput, practical challenges persist. Its effectiveness varies based on the workloads, and the associated increased hardware requirements raise concerns about undesirable centralization. This increased requirement results in full nodes and stragglers synchronizing from signed checkpoints, decreasing the trustless nature of blockchain systems. In response to these challenges, this paper introduces Chiron, a system designed to extract execution hints for the acceleration of straggling and full nodes. Notably, Chiron achieves this without compromising the security of the system or introducing overhead on the critical path of consensus. Evaluation results demonstrate a notable speedup of up to 30%, effectively addressing the gap between theoretical research and practical deployment. The quantification of this speedup is achieved through realistic blockchain benchmarks derived from a comprehensive analysis of Ethereum and Solana workloads, constituting an independent contribution.

翻译：区块链性能历来受限于共识算法的吞吐量瓶颈。近期研究突破通过引入模块化架构将共识与执行解耦，成功缓解了这些约束。共识层独立优化的趋势将关注点转向执行层。虽然并发事务执行是提升吞吐量的有效方案，但实际挑战依然存在：其效果因工作负载而异，且伴随的硬件需求提升引发非期望的中心化风险。这种提升导致完整节点与落后节点需通过签名检查点同步，削弱了区块链系统的去信任特性。针对上述问题，本文提出Chiron系统，该系统通过提取执行线索加速落后节点与完整节点的同步。值得关注的是，Chiron在实现加速的同时既未损害系统安全性，也未在共识关键路径上引入额外开销。评估结果表明其加速效果最高可达30%，有效弥合了理论研究与实际部署之间的差距。通过对以太坊和Solana工作负载的全面分析，我们基于现实区块链基准实现了该加速效果的量化，此项工作本身亦构成独立贡献。