$\mathtt{SFPoW}$SFPoW: Constructing Secure and Flexible Proof-of-Work Sidechains for Cross-Chain Interoperability With Wrapped Assets

作     者：Zhihong Deng Chunming Tang Taotao Li Zhikang Zeng Parhat Abla Debiao He 

作者机构：School of Mathematics and Information Science Guangzhou University Guangzhou China Guangzhou Center for Applied Mathematics Guangzhou University Guangzhou China Key Laboratory of Information Security Technology Jointly by Guangdong Province and Guangzhou City Guangzhou University Guangzhou China School of Software Engineering Sun Yat-Sen University Zhuhai China School of Artificial Intelligence South China Normal University Foshan China Key Laboratory of Cryptography of Zhejiang Province Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou China School of Cyber Science and Engineering Wuhan University Wuhan China 

出 版 物：《IEEE Transactions on Computers》 

年 卷 期：2025年第74卷第7期

页      面：2278-2292页

学科分类：0808[工学-电气工程] 08[工学] 

基　　金：National Key Research and Development Program of China National Natural Science Foundation of China Young-Scientist Research Cultivation Program of South China Normal University Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation Chinese Academy of Sciences 

主　　题：Blockchains Protocols Bitcoin Proof of Work Interoperability Security Costs Scalability Monitoring Artificial intelligence 

摘      要：Sidechain techniques enhance blockchain scalability and interoperability, enabling decentralized exchanges and cross-chain operations for wrapped digital assets. However, existing PoW sidechains face challenges, including centralization, high communication costs, and incomplete PoW-based security proofs. This paper introduces $\mathtt{SFPoW}$ , a S ecure and F lexible Proof-of-Work sidechains for cross-chain interoperability with wrapped assets. $\mathtt{SFPoW}$ facilitates decentralized asset transfers and token swaps across nearly all PoW-based cryptocurrencies without requiring soft or hard forks or fixed PoW targets. It establishes a decentralized, fair validation set within the sidechain, improving adaptability and reducing competition and confirmation periods. A pluggable cross-chain proof generation method is proposed, effectively filtering lazy nodes, incentivizing active participation, and minimizing on-chain verification overhead to a proof size of 200.5 bytes. Through mining behavior analysis and cryptographic reductions, $\mathtt{SFPoW}$ satisfies weak and strong atomicity. Experiments on the Ronin blockchain and an Ethereum testnet demonstrate a round-trip cost of $6.55 and latency of 372.1–382.6 seconds, confirming its practicality and efficiency.