This simple fix makes blockchain almost twice as fast

Despite its security advantages, most blockchain systems operate too slowly for many real-world IoT applications. Smart devices often need to respond in fractions of a second, but current blockchain networks cannot always keep pace. Researchers have found that the main source of these delays is not the blockchain software itself. Instead, the problem lies in how devices communicate within peer-to-peer networks. In particular, earlier studies have largely overlooked how the overall structure of these connections, known as network topology, affects performance in IoT blockchain systems.

Studying Network Design to Reduce Delays

To tackle this issue, a research team led by Associate Professor Kien Nguyen from the Institute for Advanced Academic Research/Graduate School of Informatics, Chiba University, Japan, examined ways to improve efficiency in IoT blockchain networks. Their findings were published in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management on December 17, 2025. The study analyzes how different network topologies influence speed and introduces a new technique designed to keep data flowing smoothly. "We aimed to bridge the gap between theoretical design and practical deployment of IoT-blockchain systems by identifying the fundamental causes of their high latency and proposing a decentralized solution that is both simple and effective," says Dr. Nguyen. The research was co-authored by Koki Koshikawa, Yue Su, and Hiroo Sekiya, all from Chiba University.

To pinpoint the cause of slowdowns, the team created simulations with blockchain clients connected using a variety of network structures. Their analysis revealed that decentralized IoT networks frequently transmit the same data multiple times. Current methods for sharing transactions (the individual data entries) and blocks (the larger collections of verified records) can lead to an explosive increase in duplicate copies. As these duplicates spread through overlapping communication paths, networks become congested and data begins to queue, significantly increasing delays.

Dual Perigee Lets Networks Organize Themselves

To solve this problem, the researchers developed a decentralized and lightweight algorithm called "Dual Perigee." This method allows each device in the network to make smarter decisions about which neighboring devices it connects to. Rather than relying on random connections, a device using Dual Perigee evaluates its peers based on how quickly they deliver transactions and full blocks. Consistently slow connections are dropped and replaced with better-performing ones. Over time, the network naturally reshapes itself into a faster configuration, all without relying on a central authority.

When tested in a simulated 50-node IoT environment, Dual Perigee reduced block-related delays by 48.54% compared to the standard method used by the Ethereum blockchain. It also exceeded the performance of advanced approaches, including the original Perigee algorithm, by more than 23%. Importantly, these improvements did not increase the workload on IoT devices. The algorithm depends on passive measurements of data already being received and requires only minimal processing.

Enabling Real-Time and Mission-Critical Systems

The implications of this work extend across many technology sectors. Faster data confirmation and sharing allow blockchain systems to support applications where timing is critical. "The proposed decentralized latency-aware peer-selection mechanism can serve as a foundation for future blockchain platforms that support real-time, mission-critical IoT services, ultimately enabling more secure, responsive, and trustworthy digital infrastructures," explains Dr. Nguyen.

Preparing for the Next Generation of IoT

As IoT networks continue to expand and grow more complex, the demand for decentralized and reliable communication methods will increase. The researchers believe Dual Perigee could play an important role in upcoming technologies. "Our approach can be applied to emerging IoT-based services that require fast and reliable data sharing, such as smart cities, smart homes, industrial monitoring, healthcare systems, and supply-chain tracking," says Dr. Nguyen.

This research was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Grant Number: 23H03377) and partially by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) through the establishment of university fellowships towards the creation of science and technology innovation (Grant Number: JPMJFS2107).