The Dodona Protocol: A Living Design Science Experiment in Oracle Design

Computer Science > Cryptography and Security [Submitted on 6 Jun 2026] The Dodona Protocol: A Living Design Science Experiment in Oracle Design Giulio Caldarelli The oracle problem, broadly understood as the difficulty of reliably incorporating external information into blockchain-based systems, has been widely examined by scholars and practitioners. Recent comparative research has shown that several challenges of modern blockchain oracles, including attributability, accountability, integrity, and query design, mirror procedural and epistemic constraints already present in ancient oracular institutions such as the Delphic Oracle. Yet the translation of these insights into applied oracle design remains largely unexplored. This paper introduces the Dodona Protocol, a modular, chain-agnostic oracle service inspired by procedural patterns identified in ancient and modern oracle systems. Named after the Oracle of Zeus at Dodona, one of the oldest oracular sanctuaries in ancient Greece, the protocol operationalizes principles such as structured consultation, access control, attributable resolution, constrained query formats, reputational accountability, and tiered service availability. Its first module implements a query and dispute resolution mechanism in which a named expert resolver provides binding answers to structured questions submitted by petitioners. The oracle does not claim to reveal objective truth; rather, it produces outcomes that parties have agreed in advance to accept. The paper presents the design rationale, architecture, and comparative positioning of the Dodona Protocol. It frames the protocol as a living research experiment within the Design Science Research tradition, where the deployed system functions as the research artifact and operational data support structured analysis, iterative refinement, and peer-reviewed dissemination. In doing so, the paper seeks to bridge the gap between oracle theory and oracle practice. Comments: 20 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Reference implementation deployed on Ethereum Sepolia testnet; contract at this https URL Subjects: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) Cite as: arXiv:2606.08012 [cs.CR]   (or arXiv:2606.08012v1 [cs.CR] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.08012 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Giulio Caldarelli Dr. [view email] [v1] Sat, 6 Jun 2026 07:00:59 UTC (370 KB) Access Paper: view license Current browse context: cs.CR < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-06 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)