Researchers from the US Federal Reserve have modelled a novel computer system that they say will provide greater security for payments.

The system is byzantine fault tolerant (BFT), which means it will still be able to perform transactions if nodes fail or if malicious actors work against it. The authors of the research – James Lovejoy, Tarakaram Gollamudi, Jeremy Kassis, Narayanan Pillai, Jeremy Brotherton and Eric Thompson – have named their model after Heraclius, a former emperor of Byzantium