---
title: "Cerberus Whitepaper & Academic Validation"
path: "/contents/tech/research/cerberus-whitepaper"
version: "1.4.0"
author: "Hydrate"
createdAt: "2026-02-19T06:03:53.005Z"
updatedAt: "2026-03-16T18:25:46.868Z"
---

# Cerberus Whitepaper & Academic Validation

<Infobox>
| **Title** | [Cerberus](/contents/tech/core-protocols/cerberus-consensus-protocol): Minimalistic Multi-shard Byzantine-resilient Transaction Processing |
| **Published** | Journal of Systems Research (JSys), June 2023 |
| **arXiv** | [2008.04450](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2008.04450) |
| **Status** | Peer-reviewed, validated at 500k+ TPS |
</Infobox>

## Overview

The [Cerberus](/contents/tech/core-protocols/cerberus-consensus-protocol) whitepaper presents the formal specification of the [Cerberus consensus protocol](/contents/tech/core-protocols/cerberus-consensus-protocol). Originally published as a preprint in 2020, it was [peer-reviewed and published](https://www.radixdlt.com/blog/cerberus-consensus-peer-reviewed) in the **Journal of Systems Research (JSys)** in June 2023.

### Key Contributions

  - **Braided cross-shard consensus** — Dynamic consensus groups formed per-transaction across relevant shards

  - **3-phase commit protocol** — Pre-prepare, prepare, commit with formal safety [proofs](https://docs.radixdlt.com/docs/authorization)

  - **Minimalistic design** — Simple per-shard [BFT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_fault) instances composed via a braiding protocol

  - **Deterministic state provisioning** — Enabling global consensus between shard groups

### Validation

The [Hyperscale public test](/ideas/hyperscale-500k-test) (January 2026) validated [Cerberus](/contents/tech/core-protocols/cerberus-consensus-protocol) at scale: 500,000+ sustained TPS with peaks over 700,000–800,000 TPS across 128 shards. These were complex [DeFi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_finance) swap transactions, not simple transfers. Linear scaling was confirmed — doubling shards (64→128) doubled throughput.

## External Links

  - [Full Paper (arXiv PDF)](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2008.04450)

  - [Cerberus Consensus Peer Reviewed (Blog)](https://www.radixdlt.com/blog/cerberus-consensus-peer-reviewed)

  - [Consensus Evolution at Radix](/contents/tech/research/consensus-evolution)