Ownership-based access control based on NFTs

Abstract

During the past years a concept that has emerged in the Blockchain space is tokenization, which is the process of transforming ownerships and rights of assets owned by an individual into a digital form. Thanks to tokenization, internet services can now leverage access control systems that do not grant access based on identity (who you are) but rather on ownership (what you own). These types of systems can be classified as Ownership Based Access Control (OBAC) systems. The aim of this project is to prove the viability and compatibility with the current authorization paradigm of these kind of systems by implementing an access control enforcement service for digital resources based on the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). The results show that OBAC is feasible and can be integrated with the existing industry-standard protocols for authorization. It has been proved that, by using OBAC users no longer have to disclose their identity when accessing a service, resulting in improved privacy. Furthermore, access to a digital service becomes transferable and tradeable if its access is based on ownership of a NFT.