Services
Decentralised systems,
reasoned through.
We advise on and analyse the protocols that hold a blockchain system together — consensus, checkpointing, and on-chain randomness — grounded in our own peer-reviewed research.
Book a call →WHAT WE ADVISE ON
Three protocol areas, one research programme
Each capability below is drawn from research we've published, not general blockchain familiarity.
Consensus
Advising on and analysing consensus protocol design, including our own research into hierarchical consensus that preserves liveness under partial synchrony.
Checkpointing
Designing and analysing modular checkpointing protocols that let a system recover state after failure, built to plug into what's already running rather than replace it.
Randomness
Analysing and designing on-chain random-number generation resistant to manipulation by the parties who help produce it.
HOW WE ENGAGE
The protocol, reasoned through and tailored.
This work draws on the same research programme behind our published protocols for consensus, checkpointing, and randomness. Rather than taking a system's design on faith, we analyse the actual distributed protocol a client runs — tracing through its complexity under node failure, network delay, and adversarial behaviour — to verify it delivers on the guarantees it's meant to provide. Where a client needs something built rather than reviewed, we also tailor blockchain components to their specific requirements, grounded in that same research.
THE DOMAIN
What is a decentralised system?
A decentralised system is one where no single party holds the full picture. Independent nodes must reach agreement, recover from failure, and produce outcomes every participant can rely on, without a central operator to arbitrate when something goes wrong. Reasoning about these systems means working out what actually holds under network delay, partial information, and participants who may act in their own interest.
Blockchains, specifically. A blockchain is one instance of this: a shared, append-only record maintained by a network of independent nodes, ordered by a consensus protocol so that every honest participant ends up agreeing on the same history. Consensus, checkpointing, and randomness — the three areas we advise on — are the protocols that keep that ordering problem solved as the network grows, fails, and recovers.
RESEARCH DEPTH
Published, and protected
A sample of the peer-reviewed papers and granted patents this consulting work draws on.
Hierarchical Consensus: Scalability Through Optimism and Weak Liveness
Paper — DISC 2025
Hooks: A Simple and Modular Checkpointing Protocol for Blockchains
Paper — IEEE NCA 2024
An Unbiassable Random Oracle for Blockchains
Paper — Oxford Blockchain Research Centre
Performing tasks in distributed computer systems (consensus handover)
Patent — GB2625227B
Method and device for preventing forking of blockchain
Patent — US12,254,468 B2
BLOCKCHAIN CONSULTING, BY TBTL
Talk to us about consensus, checkpointing, or randomness protocol design for your system.
Book a call ↗