Abstract:In recent years, blockchain technology has undergone rapid development and found widespread application in areas such as data circulation, finance, logistics, government affairs, and judiciary. Alongside this growth, various benchmarks have emerged to evaluate the performance of different blockchain systems. However, these benchmarks exhibit significant differences in scope and methodology, lacking a unified framework to standardize their design and evaluation processes. In addition, there is no consistent metric system to explicitly define the performance and security capabilities required of blockchain systems. Drawing from the development history of databases, a unified, repeatable, and fair benchmarking standard can provide valuable guidance for industry advancement. As a specialized form of distributed database management system, blockchain can benefit from the extensive experience gained through the evolution of database technology. Inspired by database benchmarks and considering the unique characteristics of blockchain systems such as decentralization, immutability, and trustworthiness, a blockchain benchmarking reference framework, UFBCB, has been proposed. This framework identifies five core elements essential to blockchain benchmarks: application model, data model, workload, metrics, and execution rules, and clarifies the interrelationship among these elements. It provides a unified standard for evaluating blockchain performance. Moreover, a comprehensive metric system encompassing performance, energy efficiency, scalability, and security is introduced, aiming to capture the critical capabilities of blockchain systems comprehensively. Based on this framework, a detailed comparative analysis of existing blockchain benchmarks is conducted, highlighting common issues and deficiencies. Finally, this study discusses potential directions for the future development of blockchain benchmarking.