# Byzantine Eventual Consistency and the Fundamental Limits of Peer-to-Peer Databases

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.00472 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.00472/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 1 Dec 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [MELD: A Protocol for Merging Knowledge Across Distributed Agentic Memories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.16357/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Sybil attacks, in which a large number of adversary-controlled nodes join a network, are a concern for many peer-to-peer database systems, necessitating expensive countermeasures such as proof-of-work. However, there is a category of database applications that are, by design, immune to Sybil attacks because they can tolerate arbitrary numbers of Byzantine-faulty nodes. In this paper, we characterize this category of applications using a consistency model we call Byzantine Eventual Consistency (BEC). We introduce an algorithm that guarantees BEC based on Byzantine causal broadcast, prove its correctness, and demonstrate near-optimal performance in a prototype implementation.