Achieving Greater Decentralization with Atomic Ownership Blockchains
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/ledger.2025.425Keywords:
Atomic objects, Decentralization, Cryptographic-level security, Blockchain banknotes, Microscopic blockchain, Private blockchain in the public domainAbstract
This paper proposes Atomic Ownership Blockchains (AOB), a novel blockchain architecture designed to address scalability and decentralization challenges in distributed ledger systems. AOB introduces an approach where each atomic object is represented by an independent blockchain, potentially allowing for horizontal scaling and enhanced security. The system stores only ownership transfer records, which may enable parallel transaction processing and improved throughput. By eliminating traditional mining and voting mechanisms, AOB aims to mitigate certain security risks while proposing an implicit consensus mechanism for resolving forks. The AOB architecture could potentially support the digitization of real-world assets and enable decentralized applications involving shared or fractional ownership. This paper presents the theoretical framework of AOB, discussing its potential advantages and outlining areas for future research and empirical validation. Practical implementation and rigorous testing are necessary to fully assess its viability and impact on digital ownership paradigms.
References
Ciaian, P., Kancs, d., Rajcaniova, M. “The Economic Dependency of Bitcoin Security.” Applied Economics 53.49 5738-5755 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2021.1931003.
Decker, C., Wattenhofer, R. “A Fast and Scalable Payment Network with Bitcoin Duplex Micropayment Channels.” ETH Zurich (accessed 11 August 2015) https://tik-old.ee.ethz.ch/file/716b955c130e6c703fac336ea17b1670/duplex-micropayment-channels.pdf.
Dimitri, N. “Consensus: Proof of Work, Proof of Stake and Structural Alternatives.” In N. Vadgama, J. Xu, P. Tasca (Eds.) Enabling the Internet of Value (2022) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-78184-2_4.
Karame, G., Androulaki, E., Capkun, S. “Double-Spending Fast Payments in Bitcoin.” In CCS '12: Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security 906-917 https://doi.org/10.1145/2382196.2382292.
Kaur, G. “Bitcoin Nodes vs. Miners: Key Differences Explained.” Cointelegraph (8 August 2025) https://cointelegraph.com/learn/bitcoin-nodes-vs-miners.
Knight, R. “What the Bitcoin Halving Means for BTC Mining Centralization.” Cointelegraph (1 March 2024) https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-halving-btc-mining-centralization.
Laneve, C., Veschetti, A. “A Formal Analysis of Blockchain Consensus.” Università di Bologna Innovation Lab on Blockchain and New Technologies (accessed 11 August 2025) https://site.unibo.it/blockchain-and-newtechnologies/en/papers/llncs-main.pdf.
Lin, Q., Li, C., Zhao, X., Chen, X. “Measuring Decentralization in Bitcoin and Ethereum Using Multiple Metrics and Granularities.” arXiv (2021) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.10699.
Miller, A., Bentov, I., Kumaresan, R., McCorry, P. “Sprites: Payment Channels That Go Faster Than Lightning.” arXiv (accessed 11 August 2025) https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.05812.
Nabilou, H. “Bitcoin Governance as a Decentralized Financial Market Infrastructure.” Stanford Journal of Blockchain Law & Policy (30 June 2021) https://stanford-jblp.pubpub.org/pub/bitcoin-governance/release/2.
Nakamoto, S. “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” (2008) https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf.
No Author. “Bitcoin Lightning Network.“ Zion (accessed 11 August 2025) https://docs.zion.fyi/architecture/bitcoin-lightning-network.
Pagnotta, E. “Decentralizing Money: Bitcoin Prices and Blockchain Security.” The Review of Financial Studies 35.2 866-907 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhaa149.
Paul, S. “What Is Bitcoin Mining? How Does Crypto Mining Work?” G2 (3 July 2024) https://www.g2.com/articles/cryptocurrency-mining.
Poon, J., & Dryja, T. “The Bitcoin Lightning Network: Scalable Off-Chain Instant Payments.” Lightning Network (accessed 11 August 2025) https://lightning.network/lightning-network-paper.pdf.
Ramos, S., Pianese, F., Leach, T., Oliveras, E. “A Great Disturbance in the Crypto: Understanding Cryptocurrency Returns Under Sttacks.” Blockchain: Research and Applications 2.3 100021 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcra.2021.100021.
Reiff, N. “How Does a Blockchain Prevent Double-Spending of Bitcoins?” Investopedia (2024) https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/061915/how-does-block-chain-prevent-doublespending-bitcoins.asp.
Zaghloul, E., Li, T., Mutka, M., Ren, J.” Bitcoin and Blockchain: Security and Privacy.” IEEE Internet of Things Journal 7.10 10288-10313 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2020.3004273.
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Zhuo Liu

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
- Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
- The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
- Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
 
- The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
- Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
- The Author represents and warrants that:
- the Work is the Author’s original work;
- the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
- the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
- the Work has not previously been published;
- the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
- the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
 
- The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.
- The Author agrees to digitally sign the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work.
Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.
 
						 
							
