A comprehensive collection of foundational and cutting-edge whitepapers in blockchain technology, decentralized finance, and cryptographic systems. This repository serves as a knowledge base for researchers, developers, and enthusiasts to understand the theoretical foundations and latest innovations in the Web3 ecosystem.
- AMM & DeFi Research
- Blockchain Protocols
- Bridges & Interoperability
- Consensus Mechanisms
- Core DeFi Protocols
- Data Structures
- EigenLayer Research
- Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs)
- Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)
- MEV Research
- Oracles
- Quantitative AMM
- Storage & Data Availability
- Traditional Finance
- Other Papers
Deep dives into automated market makers (AMMs) and DeFi mechanics, focusing on mathematical models, impermanent loss, and market efficiency.
- am-AMM: An Auction-Managed Automated Market Maker
- Impermanent Loss in Uniswap V3
- Automated Market Makers and Decentralized Exchange
- Constant Function Market Makers
- SoK: Decentralized Exchanges with AMM Protocols
- SoK: Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
- The Paradox of Just-in-Time Liquidity
- What Drives Liquidity on DEXes
- Maverick Protocol
Core papers defining the fundamental blockchain platforms and their architectures, from Bitcoin to modern Layer 1 solutions.
- Aptos Whitepaper
- Bitcoin Whitepaper
- Cosmos Whitepaper
- Ethereum Whitepaper
- Arbitrum
- Solana Whitepaper
- Unichain Whitepaper
- zkLink Whitepaper
Research on cross-chain communication protocols and bridge architectures enabling seamless asset and data transfer between blockchains.
- Stargate: Delta-Solving The Bridging-Trilemma
- LayerZero Whitepaper V2.1.0
- The Interblockchain Communication Protocol
Foundational papers on distributed consensus, including Byzantine fault tolerance, Proof of Work/Stake, and attack vectors.
- The Byzantine Generals Problem
- Eclipse Attack
- Byzantine Agreement for Authentication
- Paxos Made Simple
- Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance
- Selfish Mining Attack
- The Latest Gossip on BFT Consensus
Whitepapers from major DeFi protocols detailing lending markets, decentralized exchanges, and liquidity provisioning mechanisms.
- Aave Protocol Whitepaper v1.0
- Compound Whitepaper
- DFYN v2 Whitepaper
- SushiSwap Whitepaper
- Uniswap v2 Whitepaper
- Uniswap v3 Whitepaper
- Pendle Finance
Specialized data structures optimized for blockchain systems, focusing on efficiency and cryptographic verification.
Research papers on restaking, distributed consensus optimization, and protocol forensics in the EigenLayer ecosystem.
- BFT Protocol Forensics
- Coded Merkle Tree: Solving Data Availability
- EigenLayer: The Restaking Collective
- EIGEN: The Universal Intersubjective Work Token
- Everything is a Race and Nakamoto Always Wins
- Minotaur: Multi-Resource Blockchain Consensus
- Order-Fair Consensus in the Permissionless Setting
- Prism: Deconstructing the Blockchain
- Themis: Fast, Strong Order-Fairness
Key standards and innovations that define Ethereum's evolution through EIPs, from core token standards to advanced new capabilities.
- ERC-20: Token Standard - The foundational fungible token standard for Ethereum | OpenZeppelin Docs
- ERC-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard - The original NFT standard enabling unique digital assets | ERC721.org
- ERC-777: Advanced Token Standard - Enhanced token standard with hooks and operator functionality | OpenZeppelin Docs
- ERC-1155: Multi Token Standard - Efficient standard for both fungible and non-fungible tokens | OpenZeppelin Docs
- ERC-165: Interface Detection - Standard method for detecting supported interfaces | OpenZeppelin Docs
- ERC-173: Contract Ownership - Standard interface for contract ownership | OpenZeppelin Docs
- ERC-2535: Diamond Standard - Modular smart contract architecture for unlimited contract functionality
- ERC-1822: Universal Upgradeable Proxy Standard - Standard for upgradeable contracts | OpenZeppelin Blog
- EIP-2718: Typed Transaction Envelope - Foundational standard defining an extensible envelope for future transaction types | Ethereum.org Docs
- EIP-1559: Fee Market Change - Introduced Type 2 transactions and a new fee market mechanism with base fee burning | EIP-1559 Paper
- EIP-1014: CREATE2 - Introduced the
CREATE2opcode for deterministic contract address creation, enabling counterfactual instantiation and state channels. - EIP-4844: Shard Blob Transactions - Introduced Type 3 transactions carrying "blobs" of data to scale Layer 2 rollups (Proto-Danksharding) | EIP-4844 Resources
- EIP-3541: EOF - EVM Object Format Meta - Meta EIP for the EVM Object Format, a major upgrade introducing versioned, validated bytecode for improved safety and extensibility | EOF.org
- EIP-7702: Set EOA account code for one transaction - Proposal allowing EOAs to temporarily adopt smart contract code for a single transaction, enhancing EOA capabilities towards account abstraction.
- ERC-4337: Account Abstraction - User accounts as smart contracts, enabling gasless transactions, batching, and programmable security | ERC4337.io | Ethereum.org Guide
- ERC-6900: Modular Account Standard - Composable, extensible smart contract account architecture | Awesome Modular Accounts
- ERC-7579: Minimal Modular Smart Accounts - Streamlined framework for modular smart contract accounts | ERC7579.io
- ERC-7521: General Intents for Smart Contract Wallets - A generalized intent specification for smart contract wallets, allowing authorization of current and future intent structures at sign time
- ERC-6963: Multi-Injected Provider Discovery - Standard for dApps to discover multiple wallet providers
- ERC-5164: Cross-Chain Execution - Framework for cross-chain transaction execution
- ERC-6120: Universal Token Router - Cross-chain token transfer standard
- ERC-7281: xERC-20 - Open token standard that solves the security and liquidity problems associated with bridged tokens | xERC20
- ERC-3668: CCIP-Read - Off-chain data retrieval with on-chain verification
- ERC-4444: Bound Historical Data in Execution Clients - Proposal to limit historical data storage requirements
- ERC-7540: Universally Unique Attestation - Standard for blockchain data attestation
Cutting-edge research on privacy-preserving smart contracts and computation using homomorphic encryption.
Analysis of Miner/Maximal Extractable Value, its economic implications, and proposed solutions for fair ordering.
- Don't Let MEV Slip
- Mempool Privacy: An Economic Perspective
- Quantifying the Value of Revert Protection
Design and implementation of decentralized oracle networks for bringing off-chain data onto blockchains.
Advanced mathematical approaches to automated market making, including temporal-function market making.
Research on decentralized storage solutions and data availability sampling for blockchain scaling.
- Arweave Light Paper
- Arweave Protocol Yellow Paper
- Celestia: LazyLedger
- Covalent Network Whitepaper 2024
- Covalent EWM Whitepaper 2024
- Filecoin: A Decentralized Storage Network
Classical finance papers relevant to cryptocurrency markets and DeFi protocol design.
Additional significant papers covering account abstraction, zero-knowledge proofs, and various blockchain innovations.
- Cairo – a Turing-complete STARcriendly
- ERC-4337 Account Abstraction
- Lightning Network
- Lit Protocol Whitepaper (2024)
- Phala Network Paper
- Phala Tokenomic Paper
- Skiff Whitepaper 2022
- Stackr: LiMicro-Rollups
- Submarine Send: Enter the Hydra
- The International Stable Currency Whitepaper
- UniswapX Whitepaper
Feel free to submit a PR or open an issue to add missing papers or suggest improvements.
See LICENSE file for details.