Enhancing Security, Privacy and Performance of Blockchain‐Based Verifiable Certificate Digital Identity Verification and Management Systems in the Education Sector Using the Plonk System

Abstract

ABSTRACT The promise of blockchain applications is transformative in terms of certificate verification and managing digital identities in the various fields, such as education, healthcare and land records. Nevertheless, current blockchain‐based certificate solutions have serious shortcomings: most are based on simple cryptography protection with no privacy‐preserving systems, have low throughput (16.67 TPS in typical Ethereum‐based systems), have unpredictable response times under varying loads, are not standardised across industries and are expensive to operate due to gas fees. Besides, the current implementations are mostly either theoretical or without performance tests in practice. This paper fills these gaps by suggesting a Plonk‐based system that incorporates zero‐knowledge proofs, digital signatures and trusted identity verification to improve the efficiency, security, and privacy of the verifiable credential digital identity verification and management systems (VC DIVMS). It was implemented at JIS University, India, with 50 transactions per minute (an improvement of 200% over Ethereum), an error rate of 244–1277ms in response times under load conditions (24‐33 faster than Ethereum) and high‐level privacy through ZKP. Contrary to currently used models that are sector‐specific, the offered Plonk framework offers a single, scalable, privacy‐focused model that can be applied in areas of education, healthcare, or credit verification. Intense testing ensured both resilience, scalability and compatibility with a demanding environment, making Plonk a strong and secure substitute to decentralised identity verification and credential management that is resistant to tampering.