A Blockchain and IPFS-based Framework for Secure and Verifiable E-Learning Certificates using Ethereum Smart Contracts

Abstract

The widespread adoption of e-learning platforms has increased the issuance of digital certificates; however, conventional certificate management systems are centralized and vulnerable to forgery, unauthorized alteration, and data loss. These limitations reduce trust and make verification dependent on intermediaries. This paper proposes a Blockchain and IPFS-based framework that ensures secure issuance, tamper-proof storage, and automated verification of digital certificates. The system deploys an Ethereum smart contract to register certificate metadata on-chain while the actual certificate file and associated JSON metadata are stored on IPFS, enabling decentralized storage and verifiable ownership. A dual-hash mechanism binds the certificate and its metadata to prevent hash spoofing. Additionally, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) are integrated for semantic integrity verification, allowing detection of textual manipulation even when the certificate's appearance remains unchanged. A dataset of 400 certificates was used to evaluate the system. The OCR/NLP module achieved 95% precision in name-matching, and smart contract operations incurred less than $0.05 per certificate, with verification completed in under 3.5 seconds. Results demonstrate that combining blockchain immutability, decentralized storage, and NLP-assisted verification provides a scalable and tamper-evident solution suitable for academic and professional certificate management.