# A Fast Blockchain-based Federated Learning Framework with Compressed Communications

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.06095 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.06095/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 27 of its 50 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Aug 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 27 of 27)

- [Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.05629/) (2016)
- [On the Convergence of FedAvg on Non-IID Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.02189/) (2019)
- [Federated Learning with Non-IID Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.00582/) (2018)
- [LEAF: A Benchmark for Federated Settings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.01097/) (2018)
- [How To Backdoor Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.00459/) (2018)
- [Deep Gradient Compression: Reducing the Communication Bandwidth for Distributed Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.01887/) (2017)
- [Robust and Communication-Efficient Federated Learning from Non-IID Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.02891/) (2019)
- [Adaptive Federated Learning in Resource Constrained Edge Computing Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.05271/) (2018)
- [Sparsified SGD with Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.07599/) (2018)
- [Parallel Restarted SGD with Faster Convergence and Less Communication: Demystifying Why Model Averaging Works for Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.06629/) (2018)
- [TernGrad: Ternary Gradients to Reduce Communication in Distributed Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.07878/) (2017)
- [Sparse Communication for Distributed Gradient Descent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.05021/) (2017)
- [Achieving Linear Speedup with Partial Worker Participation in Non-IID Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.11203/) (2021)
- [Qsparse-local-SGD: Distributed SGD with Quantization, Sparsification, and Local Computations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02367/) (2019)
- [Distributed Mean Estimation with Limited Communication](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.00429/) (2016)
- [Resnet in Resnet: Generalizing Residual Architectures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.08029/) (2016)
- [Blockchained On-Device Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.03949/) (2018)
- [Federated Learning over Wireless Networks: Convergence Analysis and Resource Allocation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.13067/) (2019)
- [Adaptive Gradient Sparsification for Efficient Federated Learning: An Online Learning Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.04756/) (2020)
- [Federated Learning Meets Blockchain in Edge Computing: Opportunities and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.01776/) (2021)
- [Decentralized Federated Learning: A Segmented Gossip Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.07782/) (2019)
- [Cost-Effective Federated Learning Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.08336/) (2020)
- [Blockchain Assisted Decentralized Federated Learning (BLADE-FL): Performance Analysis and Resource Allocation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.06905/) (2021)
- [To Talk or to Work: Flexible Communication Compression for Energy Efficient Federated Learning over Heterogeneous Mobile Edge Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.11804/) (2020)
- [Low-latency Federated Learning and Blockchain for Edge Association in Digital Twin empowered 6G Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.09902/) (2020)
- [Slashing Communication Traffic in Federated Learning by Transmitting Clustered Model Updates](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.04153/) (2021)
- [Analysis and Evaluation of Synchronous and Asynchronous FLchain](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07938/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Blockchain-enabled Trustworthy Federated Unlearning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15917/) (2024)
- [A Survey on Secure and Private Federated Learning Using Blockchain: Theory and Application in Resource-constrained Computing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.13727/) (2023)
- [A Differentially Private Blockchain-Based Approach for Vertical Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.07054/) (2024)
- [ZK-HybridFL: Zero-Knowledge Proof-Enhanced Hybrid Ledger for Federated Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.22302/) (2026)
- [Semi-Federated Learning: Convergence Analysis and Optimization of A Hybrid Learning Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.02559/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recently, blockchain-based federated learning (BFL) has attracted intensive research attention due to that the training process is auditable and the architecture is serverless avoiding the single point failure of the parameter server in vanilla federated learning (VFL). Nevertheless, BFL tremendously escalates the communication traffic volume because all local model updates (i.e., changes of model parameters) obtained by BFL clients will be transmitted to all miners for verification and to all clients for aggregation. In contrast, the parameter server and clients in VFL only retain aggregated model updates. Consequently, the huge communication traffic in BFL will inevitably impair the training efficiency and hinder the deployment of BFL in reality. To improve the practicality of BFL, we are among the first to propose a fast blockchain-based communication-efficient federated learning framework by compressing communications in BFL, called BCFL. Meanwhile, we derive the convergence rate of BCFL with non-convex loss. To maximize the final model accuracy, we further formulate the problem to minimize the training loss of the convergence rate subject to a limited training time with respect to the compression rate and the block generation rate, which is a bi-convex optimization problem and can be efficiently solved. To the end, to demonstrate the efficiency of BCFL, we carry out extensive experiments with standard CIFAR-10 and FEMNIST datasets. Our experimental results not only verify the correctness of our analysis, but also manifest that BCFL can remarkably reduce the communication traffic by 95-98% or shorten the training time by 90-95% compared with BFL.