Objective: The paper must introduce the problem that we have addressed by constructing the Blend protocol and the solution (Blend protocol). Therefore, it must have strong theoretical motivation and solid theoretical introduction to the solution (Blend as a framework/family of protocols). It must abstract from “implementation details” and must clearly present the key innovations in as concise manner as possible.

Deliverable: Arxiv publication, approx. 15 pages.

Deadline: End of February 2026

Timeline:

• By the end of November: detailed scope of the paper ready; (less than 1 week)
• By the end of December: initial draft of the paper ready; (2 weeks)
• By the end of January: review-ready version ready; (3 weeks)
• By the end of February: publication to Arxiv; (4 weeks)

Initial Outline:

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
   1. Contributions
   2. State of the Art
   3. Outline
3. Problem statement
   1. Scarce communication patterns
   2. Consensus self-censoring
   3. Validators privacy (stake hiding)
4. Model and Goals
   1. High level overview
   2. Threat model
   3. Security Goals
5. Why to Blend and not to Mix OR why mixing is not enough
6. Protocol
   1. Abstract Blend
   2. Bare Blend
   3. Covered Blend
   4. Drop Blend
7. Discussion/Evaluation [optional]
8. Conclusion and future work