LibraryScaling2022Design paperCorpus record
Block-STM: parallel execution by turning a preset order into a schedule
Block-STM. Rati Gelashvili, Alexander Spiegelman, Zhuolun Xiang, George Danezis, Dahlia Malkhi and others.
Block-STM executes a block's transactions in parallel against a preset serial order, then re-executes the ones that read a value the parallel run got wrong.
A reading of the project's public design document. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not an offer.
Block-STM executes a block's transactions in parallel against a preset serial order, then re-executes the ones that read a value the parallel run got wrong.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 1
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
Parallel execution that does not name the serial order it must match is just a race. The paper's point is to keep the sequential result.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The proposal
Block-STM executes a block's transactions in parallel against a preset serial order, then re-executes the ones that read a value the parallel run got wrong.
Claim 03 · Paper model
The mechanism
Transactions have a fixed order. Workers execute them optimistically. A read that later proves stale is aborted and retried.
Claim 04 · Paper model
The bound
This is a research paper. It is not a claim about a live chain's throughput.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
Parallel execution that does not name the serial order it must match is just a race. The paper's point is to keep the sequential result.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading the Block-STM paper. A chain's block time is a different measurement.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What is the serial order the parallel run must match?
02 The proposal
Observation
What the study says
Block-STM executes a block's transactions in parallel against a preset serial order, then re-executes the ones that read a value the parallel run got wrong.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading the Block-STM paper. A chain's block time is a different measurement.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What is the serial order the parallel run must match?
03 The mechanism
Observation
What the study says
Transactions have a fixed order. Workers execute them optimistically. A read that later proves stale is aborted and retried.
Model
What has to hold
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What is the serial order the parallel run must match?
04 The bound
Observation
What the study says
This is a research paper. It is not a claim about a live chain's throughput.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading the Block-STM paper. A chain's block time is a different measurement.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Is the system you are reviewing this paper or a chain's implementation of it?
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Transactions have a fixed order. Workers execute them optimistically. A read that later proves stale is aborted and retried.
- 02The result is defined to match a sequential execution of that order. Speed is not a new state machine.
- 03Aptos uses this idea. The paper is not the Aptos white paper, and a chain that says Block-STM still has to name its conflict rule.
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
What the name has to mean
The cut
Block-STM executes a block's transactions in parallel against a preset serial order, then re-executes the ones that read a value the parallel run got wrong.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.
What actually moves
The cut
The result is defined to match a sequential execution of that order. Speed is not a new state machine.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
Optimistic reads can still abort. The worst case is the sequential run.
What a later deployment may change
The cut
Aptos uses this idea. The paper is not the Aptos white paper, and a chain that says Block-STM still has to name its conflict rule.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
This is a research paper. It is not a claim about a live chain's throughput.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
You are reading the Block-STM paper. A chain's block time is a different measurement.
Model · Not re-measured
The document is the one at the source URL. A marketing page with the same brand is not this text.
Model · Not re-measured
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
Optimistic reads can still abort. The worst case is the sequential run.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
Parallel execution that does not name the serial order it must match is just a race. The paper's point is to keep the sequential result.
What the design proposes
- Transactions have a fixed order. Workers execute them optimistically. A read that later proves stale is aborted and retried.
- The result is defined to match a sequential execution of that order. Speed is not a new state machine.
- Aptos uses this idea. The paper is not the Aptos white paper, and a chain that says Block-STM still has to name its conflict rule.
How the mechanism is specified
- Transactions have a fixed order. Workers execute them optimistically. A read that later proves stale is aborted and retried.
- The result is defined to match a sequential execution of that order. Speed is not a new state machine.
- Aptos uses this idea. The paper is not the Aptos white paper, and a chain that says Block-STM still has to name its conflict rule.
What this page does not treat as proven
- This is a research paper. It is not a claim about a live chain's throughput.
- No speedup figure is copied here.
- Optimistic reads can still abort. The worst case is the sequential run.
Why the desk still reads it
Block-STM executes a block's transactions in parallel against a preset serial order, then re-executes the ones that read a value the parallel run got wrong.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Preset order
- The serial order defined before parallel execution. Parallelism does not choose it.
- Abort and retry
- The response when a read saw a value the serial order would not have seen.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
Papers
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.