Centralized exchanges (CEXs) currently dominate the cryptocurrency trading landscape due to their speed, liquidity, and ease of use. However, they also introduce several critical risks, including custodianship of user assets, vulnerability to censorship, and reliance on centralized infrastructure that represents a single point of failure. In contrast, the advent of Automated Market Makers (AMMs), such as Uniswap, brought a paradigm shift in decentralized finance (DeFi) by enabling peer-to-peer trading through liquidity pools without intermediaries. While revolutionary, AMMs face inherent limitations such as slippage, impermanent loss for liquidity providers, and suboptimal price discovery compared to traditional orderbook systems. This research proposes a decentralized on-chain orderbook model designed to bridge the gap between centralized exchanges and AMM-based decentralized exchanges. The system replicates the precision, transparency, and efficiency of traditional orderbookdriven markets while adhering to DeFi principles of trustlessness and non-custodial asset management. Developed using Solidity smart contracts and deployed on Ethereum-compatible test networks such as Monad the platform enables users to place, cancel, and execute both limit and market orders directly on-chain. To address blockchain performance bottlenecks, the architecture incorporates an off-chain order matcher that listens to smart contract events, identifies compatible buy and sell orders, and batches potential matches for improved gas efficiency. Importantly, final trade execution and settlement remain fully decentralized, being handled exclusively by smart contracts. This hybrid design achieves low-latency order matching without compromising decentralization or asset security
Computer-aided cryptography, with particular emphasis on formal verification, promises an interesting avenue to establish strong guarantees about cryptographic primitives. The appeal of formal verification is to replace the error-prone pen-and-paper proofs with a proof that was checked by a computer and, therefore, does not need to be checked by a human. In this paper, we ask the question of how reliable are these machine-checked proofs by analyzing a formally verified implementation of the Line-Point Zero-Knowledge (LPZK) protocol (Dittmer, Eldefrawy, Graham-Lengrand, Lu, Ostrovsky and Pereira, CCS 2023). The implementation was developed in EasyCrypt and compiled into OCaml code that was claimed to be high-assurance, i.e., that offers the formal guarantees of guarantees of completeness, soundness, and zero knowledge. We show that despite these formal claims, the EasyCrypt model was flawed, and the implementation (supposed to be high-assurance) had critical security vulnerabilities. Concretely, we demonstrate that: 1) the EasyCrypt soundness proof was incorrectly done, allowing an attack on the scheme that leads honest verifiers into accepting false statements; and 2) the EasyCrypt formalization inherited a deficient model of zero knowledge for a class of non-interactive zero knowledge protocols that also allows the verifier to recover the witness. In addition, we demonstrate 3) a gap in the proof of the perfect zero knowledge property of the LPZK variant of Dittmer, Ishai, Lu and Ostrovsky (CCS 2022) that the EasyCrypt proof is based, which, depending on the interpretation of the protocol and security claim, could allow a malicious verifier to learn the witness. Our findings highlight the importance of scrutinizing machine-checked proofs, including their models and assumptions. We offer lessons learned for both users and reviewers of tools like EasyCrypt, aimed at improving the transparency, rigor, and accessibility of machine-checked proofs. By sharing our methodology and challenges, we hope to foster a culture of deeper engagement with formal verification in the cryptographic community.
Traceable Ring Signatures (TRS) were introduced by Fujisaki and Suzuki~[PKC'07], where a trace algorithm can publicly check if two signatures with the same event label were generated by the same signer (linkability). In addition, if the two signatures correspond to different messages, then the signer's identity is revealed (traceability). Following [PKC'07], most subsequent works adopt the same definitions and consider three security properties, anonymity, linkability, and exculpability. [PKC'07] proved that the latter two properties together imply unforgeability, a fundamental requirement for all signature-like primitives. ~~~~In this work, we identify a gap in the aforementioned proof, which arises from the insufficient consideration of linkability and exculpability in [PKC'07]. To address this, we revisit the syntax and security notions of TRS, and close this gap by defining extended linkability and extended exculpability. Building on these, we design a new framework of TRS from PseudoRandom Functions (PRF) and Zero-Knowledge Proofs of Knowledge (ZKPoK) that supports tracing, provided that both two signatures are valid. This constitutes a substantial improvement over existing approaches---all of which require tracing with the size of the ring---and elevates TRS to a level of practicality and efficiency comparable to Linkable Ring Signatures (LRS), which have already achieved widespread deployment in practice. Finally, we instantiate our generic framework from the DDH assumption and leverage the Bulletproofs [S\&P'18] to construct a TRS scheme with log-size signatures. The proposed scheme achieves highly optimized signature sizes in practice and remains compatible with most existing DLog-based systems. On Curve25519, the signature size is bytes, which to our best knowledge is the shortest LRS scheme for a ring .
This paper focuses on the research of auditing data privacy protection mechanism under blockchain technology and constructs an efficient computational model. The model is based on the distributed ledger characteristic of blockchain, and ensures the data tampering and traceability by optimizing the consensus mechanism. In the proposed model, the consensus mechanism is optimized by utilizing the tamper proof properties of blockchain. By building a multi node collaborative framework that supports batch auditing, this model improves data synchronization efficiency. The focus of optimization is to reduce the consensus reaching time and thus improve the overall performance and scalability of the blockchain network. At the same time, smart contracts are utilized to realize automated data sharing and auditing processes to improve auditing efficiency. In terms of data encryption algorithm design, a chaotic system based on RSA algorithm encryption is designed by combining the randomness and complexity of chaos theory to further strengthen the security of data. The results show that the model in this paper can make the ciphertext image uncorrelated in all directions and improve the encryption strength of the image. The method of this paper can make the audit data information on the degree of privacy protection and the complexity of the ciphertext image increase up to about 50% and 45% than the comparison method; the encryption and decryption time of the data is reduced by about 20 s. In addition, the running time of the stages of this paper’s algorithm increases with the increase in the number of concurrent requests and this paper’s system can support concurrency of 500 users at the same time and make its throughput up to 583.49/s.
Blind signatures have become a cornerstone for privacy-sensitive applications such as digital cash, anonymous credentials, and electronic voting. The elliptic curve variant of the Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) is widely adopted due to its efficiency in resource-constrained environments, such as mobile devices and blockchain systems. Building blind ECDSA is hence a natural goal. One presents the first such construction relying solely on the ECDSA assumption. Despite the inherent complexities in integrating blindness with ECDSA, we design a protocol that ensures both unforgeability and blindness without introducing new computational assumptions and ensuring concurrent security. It involves zero-knowledge proofs based on the MPC-in-the-head paradigm for complex statements combining relations on encrypted elliptic curve points, their coordinates, and discrete logarithms.
James Bartusek, Ruta Jawale, Justin Raizes, Kabir Tomer
We construct a publicly-verifiable non-interactive zero-knowledge argument system for QMA with the following properties. 1. Transparent setup. Our protocol only requires a uniformly random string (URS) setup. The only prior publicly-verifiable NIZK for QMA (Bartusek and Malavolta, ITCS 2022) requires an entire obfuscated program as the common reference string. 2. Extractability. Valid QMA witnesses can be extracted directly from our accepting proofs. That is, we obtain a publicly-verifiable non-interactive argument of quantum knowledge, previously only known in a privately-verifiable setting (Coladangelo, Vidick, and Zhang, CRYPTO 2020). Our construction introduces a novel ZX QMA verifier with "strong completeness" and builds upon the coset state authentication scheme from (Bartusek, Brakerski, and Vaikuntanathan, STOC 2024) within the context of QMA verification. Along the way, we establish new properties of the authentication scheme. The security of our construction rests on the heuristic use of a post-quantum indistinguishability obfuscator. Rather than rely on the full-fledged classical oracle model (i.e. ideal obfuscation), we isolate a particular game-based property of the obfuscator that suffices for our proof, which we dub the evasive composability heuristic. As an additional contribution, we study a general method for replacing heuristic use of obfuscation with heuristic use of hash functions in the post-quantum setting. In particular, we establish security of the ideal obfuscation scheme of Jain, Lin, Luo, and Wichs (CRYPTO 2023) in the quantum pseudorandom oracle model (QPrO), which can be heuristically instantiated with a hash function. This gives us NIZK arguments of quantum knowledge for QMA in the QPrO, and additionally allows us to translate several quantum-cryptographic results that were only known in the classical oracle model to results in the QPrO.
We present a cross-market algorithmic trading system that balances execution quality with rigorous compliance enforcement. The architecture comprises a high-level planner, a reinforcement learning execution agent, and an independent compliance agent. We formulate trade execution as a constrained Markov decision process with hard constraints on participation limits, price bands, and self-trading avoidance. The execution agent is trained with proximal policy optimization, while a runtime action-shield projects any unsafe action into a feasible set. To support auditability without exposing proprietary signals, we add a zero-knowledge compliance audit layer that produces cryptographic proofs that all actions satisfied the constraints. We evaluate in a multi-venue, ABIDES-based simulator and compare against standard baselines (e.g., TWAP, VWAP). The learned policy reduces implementation shortfall and variance while exhibiting no observed constraint violations across stress scenarios including elevated latency, partial fills, compliance module toggling, and varying constraint limits. We report effects at the 95% confidence level using paired t-tests and examine tail risk via CVaR. We situate the work at the intersection of optimal execution, safe reinforcement learning, regulatory technology, and verifiable AI, and discuss ethical considerations, limitations (e.g., modeling assumptions and computational overhead), and paths to real-world deployment.
This study examines values and adoption conditions of Blockchain Technology (BCT) in horizontal demand forecast sharing among retailer, focusing on the influence mechanism of transparency-restriction approaches and BCT's endogenous effects on firms' sharing incentives. We model a supply chain with one manufacturer and multiple retailers, comparing four BCT-enabled data-sharing regimes: open access (permissionless) versus no-open access (permissioned), with or without encryption. Results show that restricted transparency, combined with selective accessibility, aligns individual and collective incentives by curbing wholesale price inflation and improving forecast accuracy. Contrary to intuition, higher transparency does not universally benefit retailers; supplementary encryption can balance data utility and privacy, enabling Pareto-superior outcomes. We further demonstrate BCT can reduces moral hazards in horizontal sharing (e.g. sharing biased forecast), allowing retailers to leverage aggregated demand signals without inefficiently verification. However, excessive transparency in BCT can accelerates retailers' profit erosion, akin to perfect competition. These findings offer micro-foundations for adopting visibility-restriction technologies (e.g. Zero-Knowledge Proofs) and guide the design of context-specific BCT systems. By reconciling transparency-privacy tensions and demonstrating BCT's endogenous role in forecasting, this study advances strategies for enhancing supply chain resilience through BCT innovation.
Russell W. F. Lai, Monisha Swarnakar, Ivy K. Y. Woo
The Learning with Errors (LWE) problem asks to distinguish noisy samples s^T A + e^T mod q from uniformly random values given the random matrix A. In this work, we show that a variant called Leaky LWE, where the distinguisher receives additionally noisy leakages (s^T, e^T) L + f^T of the LWE secret s and error e for low-norm matrix L chosen adaptively by the distinguisher after seeing A, is not easier than the standard LWE of the same dimensions up to polynomial losses in the noise level and the modulus. More generally, we show that the Leaky LWE problem is hard even if the public matrix A is structured and/or hinted and if the non-leaky parts of the secret and error do not follow Gaussian distributions, as long as the corresponding LWE problem without leakage is hard. Our reduction from LWE to Leaky LWE unifies and extends prior results on the Error-Leakage LWE problem [Döttling-Kolonelos-Lai-Lin-Malavolta-Rahimi, EUROCRYPT'23], where L only acts on the error e and the Hint-MLWE problem [Kim-Lee-Seo-Song, CRYPTO'23], where L is restricted to concatenations of random Gaussian scalar matrices not controlled by the distinguisher. Previously, the Hint-MLWE and Error-Leakage LWE assumptions were used as computational replacements of the statistical noise flooding technique in security proofs which led to improved parameters in lattice-based cryptographic constructions such as zero-knowledge proofs, threshold signatures and registration-based encryption. We provide lemmas which abstract out such computational arguments based on Leaky LWE.
An anonymous credential (AC) system with partial disclosure allows users to prove possession of a credential issued by an issuer while selectively disclosing a subset of their attributes to a verifier in a privacy-preserving manner. In keyed-verification AC (KVAC) systems, the issuer and verifier share a secret key. Existing KVAC schemes rely on computationally expensive zero-knowledge proofs during credential presentation, with the presentation size growing linearly with the number of attributes. In this work, we propose two highly efficient KVAC constructions that eliminate the need for zero-knowledge proofs during the credential presentation and achieve constant-size presentations. Our first construction adapts the approach of Fuchsbauer, Hanser and Slamanig (JoC'19), which achieved constant-size credential presentation in a publicly verifiable setting using their proposed structure-preserving signatures on equivalence classes (SPS-EQ) and set commitment schemes, to the KVAC setting. We introduce structure-preserving message authentication codes on equivalence classes (SP-MAC-EQ) and designated-verifier set commitments (DVSC), resulting in a KVAC system with constant-size credentials (2 group elements) and presentations (5 group elements). To avoid the bilinear groups and pairing operations required by SP-MAC-EQ, our second construction uses a homomorphic MAC with a simplified DVSC. While this sacrifices constant-size credentials (n+2 group elements, where n is the number of attributes), it retains constant-size presentations (2 group elements) in a pairingless setting. We formally prove the security of both constructions and provide open-source implementation results demonstrating their practicality. We extensively benchmarked our KVAC protocols and, additionally, bechmarked the efficiency of our SP-MAC-EQ scheme against the original SPS-EQ scheme, showcasing significant performance improvements.
In this paper, we show for the first time it is practical to privately delegate proof generation of zkSNARKs to a single server for computations of up to 2^20 R1CS constraints. We achieve this by computing zkSNARK proof generation over homomorphic ciphertexts, an approach we call blind zkSNARKs. We formalize the concept of blind proofs, analyze their cryptographic properties and show that the resulting blind zkSNARKs remain sound when compiled using BCS compilation. Our work follows the framework proposed by Garg et al. (Crypto'24) and improves the instantiation presented by Aranha et al. (Asiacrypt'24), which implements only the FRI subprotocol. By delegating proof generation, we are able to reduce client computation time from 10 minutes to mere seconds, while server computation time remains limited to 20 minutes. We also propose a practical construction for vCOED supporting constraint sizes four orders of magnitude larger than the current state-of-the-art verifiable FHE-based approaches. These results are achieved by optimizing Fractal for the GBFV homomorphic encryption scheme, including a novel method for making homomorphic NTT evaluation packing-friendly by computing it in two dimensions. Furthermore, we make the proofs publicly verifiable by appending a zero-knowledge Proof of Decryption (PoD). We propose a new construction for PoDs optimized for low proof generation time, exploiting modulus and ring switching in GBFV and using the Schwartz-Zippel lemma for proof batching; these techniques might be of independent interest. Finally, we implement the latter protocol in C and report on execution time and proof sizes.
The Metaverse has evolved into a transformative ecosystem, merging virtual and physical realities with consumer electronics and IoT to enable immersive experiences. However, vulnerabilities like avatar impersonation, identity theft, and Sybil attacks, compounded by centralized intermediaries, underscore the urgent need for decentralized solutions to enhance interoperability, security, and user-centricity. This paper proposes a smart contract-based authentication scheme for the Metaverse, leveraging Web 3.0 technologies to achieve decentralization and address existing limitations. The scheme ensures user-server and avatar-avatar authentication while maintaining anonymity, unlinkability, and incorporating an avatar revocation mechanism. Security validation is conducted using the informal analysis, and smart contract implementation. The system’s operational efficiency is benchmarked against existing solutions using metrics such as computational, bandwidth, and communication costs. Results demonstrate the proposed scheme’s superior performance in reducing computational and communication overhead, making it highly suitable for Metaverse applications. Additionally, the smart contract is implemented on the Ethereum test network, confirming its feasibility and showcasing an acceptable cost for blockchain consumption.
Bitcoin is one of the famous cryptocurrencies in the world. It is a permissionless blockchain, and all transactions are stored in a public decentralized ledger. In its security design, Bitcoin utilizes various cryptographic primitives, such as hash functions and signature schemes. In the current version of Bitcoin, the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) is employed, which is not considered post-quantum secure due to the Shor's algorithm. Since December 2016, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a process to standardize certain post-quantum cryptographic primitives, including key encapsulation mechanisms (KEMs), public key encryption (PKE), and digital signature schemes. Dilithium, a lattice-based digital signature scheme, emerged as one of the winners of this competition and is recently standardized as ML-DSA (FIPS 204). In this work, we analyze the potential replacement of the ECDSA signature, the current signature in Bitcoin, with Dilithium, which is a post-quantum digital signature. This replacement will have a significant impact on many protocols within the Bitcoin ecosystem. The ECDSA algorithms are not only utilized for transaction signing and verification but also in wallet management. Bitcoin operates on a pseudonymous system rather than complete anonymity. To enhance privacy protection, the Bitcoin community has adopted a special type of (hierarchical) deterministic wallet as outlined in Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 32 (BIP32). We have constructed deterministic wallets by first designing DilithiumRK, a signature scheme with rerandomizable keys from Dilithium. Subsequently, we conducted a thorough security analysis and successful implementation of DilithiumRK.
Issa Binda, Ahonankpon Hubert Frédéric Gbaguidi, Toussaint Vigninou
After a dozen years of implementing decentralization in Benin, local development actions remain timid because of the weak mobilization of financial resources. The overall objective of this research is to contribute to a better knowledge of the strategies for mobilizing own resources for the local development of the Municipality of Ouaké. The methodological approach adopted consisted in the collection of quantitative and qualitative data. These are demographic data, planimetric data and socio-economic data from population surveys. These various data collected from 91 people were analyzed and processed in order to arrive at the results. The results obtained show that the construction of socio-community infrastructures was made thanks to the financial and technical support of development partners and then the FADEC fund. The State, the Town Hall, the projects and the development associations of the municipality have financed the construction of several economic, socio-community infrastructures and other local development initiatives. The local communities have also participated in the development thanks to individual actions and the resources mobilized within the cooperative groupings and the local workforce. However, it should be noted a low rate of mobilization of budgetary resources, the average of which is 41% from 2018 to 2022. The average recovery rate of the 22 types of resources available to the municipality of Ouaké is below 50%. This shows that the actors have difficulties in mobilizing the municipality's own resources. It was thus devoted to these two lines only, for the nine years considered, an amount of 376,967,075 CFA francs out of a total operating expenditure of 555,625,774 CFA francs, i.e. more than 67.84% of operating expenses. From 2014 to 2022, four main investment lines absorb 851,979,521 CFA francs out of the total estimated investments of 1,179,157,828 CFA francs, or more than 72.25% of all investments made.
The problem addressed in this study is the lack of a proper conceptualization of the Distributed Ledger Technology-based Central Bank Digital Currency technical language that guides central banks and their stakeholders in the platforms design and implementation.This research aims to improve the DLT-based CBDC knowledge, proposing a human-centered reference model.We use Design Science Research methodology combined with other research methods.The literature has not provided a reference model that can be used to improve the design of the CBDC system to meet regulatory requirements.This study fills the gap in the literature by presenting a human-centered reference model for DLT-based CBDC that serves as a decision-aid tool to study citizens' needs and behaviors, to design user experience, to improve alignment between cultural values and policy roles, and to facilitate communication between experts and stakeholders on currency digitalization process.
Chung, Siu Kei, Francisco Carpio, Andrei Navoichyk, Siarhei Valasovich · 11 authors
The internet faces a sovereignty crisis due to power concentration and data growth among a few hyperscalers, leading to centralization and loss of user control. This consolidation risks censorship and creates single points of failure. While Web3 offers decentralized solutions, they often sacrifice either scalability, decentralization, or security, which are key elements in the blockchain trilemma. These solutions also struggle with limited access to enterprise-grade hardware and frequently rely on centralized infrastructure. The Impossible Cloud Network (ICN) addresses these issues by creating a multi-tiered, decentralized infrastructure layer. ICN offers a composable service layer, an enterprise-grade hardware resource layer, and a transparent, permissionless HyperNode network for performance enforcement. By strategically decoupling and decentralizing each layer, ICN aims to provide an open, extensively scalable infrastructure that ensures digital sovereignty, eliminates single points of trust, enables service programmability, and offers a decoupled architecture for limitless possibilities in the future internet.
We introduce zkMaP (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Matrix Multiplication Proofs), a novel non-interactive zero-knowledge proof system for verifying matrix multiplication with significant improvements in efficiency and scalability. Our protocol leverages KZG polynomial commitments and an innovative inner-product reduction technique to reduce the verification of n x n matrix multiplication to a single pairing equation, thereby enabling constant-time verification independent of the matrix size. In particular, zkMaP requires only two pairing operations and produces proofs as small as 320 bytes, yielding a 96 percent reduction in proof size compared to prior schemes. Furthermore, the prover's computational complexity follows the state-of-the-art at O(n^2), with experimental results demonstrating that proofs for 1024 x 1024 matrices can be generated in approximately 12.21 seconds, offering a 16.14x speedup over previous methods. Our implementation also exhibits better memory efficiency, using only 24.58 MB of prover-side RAM for 1024 x 1024 matrices, and supports scalable batch processing, achieving per-proof generation times of 46.79 milliseconds for 1024 instances while maintaining a constant verification time of 3.6 ms.
Introduction This study explores the feasibility of embedding futarchy, specifically policy-binding conditional prediction markets anchored to democratically chosen key performance indicators (KPIs) in Decentralized Science (DeSci) governance. By externalizing belief formation to speculative markets while anchoring values democratically, futarchy offers a structurally distinct alternative to existing Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) governance models. Methods Through an empirical analysis of governance data from 13 DeSci DAOs, this study examines governance, participation, and cadence patterns that condition futarchic adoption. A retrospective simulation using proposals from VitaDAO assessed the degree to which historical decisions align with futarchy-preferred outcomes. Results The results indicate full directional alignment under deterministic modeling, suggesting latent compatibility between futarchy and existing DeSci governance. Discussion The analysis further outlines the design principles for implementation, emphasizing measurable KPIs and epistemic diversity. Futarchy, if carefully instantiated, may serve as a governance alternative for funding truth-tracking science through probabilistic decision making and market-based information aggregation.
Ivan Homoliak, Martin Perešíni, Marek Tamaškovič, Timotej Ponek · 6 authors
Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus protocols often face a trade-off between performance and security. Protocols that preelect leaders for subsequent rounds are vulnerable to Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, which can disrupt the network and compromise liveness. In this work, we present PoS-CoPOR, a single-chain PoS consensus protocol that mitigates this vulnerability by integrating a native onion routing mechanism into the consensus protocol itself. PoS-CoPOR combines stake-weighted probabilistic leader election with an anonymization layer that conceals the network identity of the next block proposer. This approach prevents targeted DoS attacks on leaders before they produce a block, thus enhancing network resilience. We implemented and evaluated PoS-CoPOR, demonstrating its ability to achieve a throughput of up to $110 \mathrm{tx} / \mathrm{s}$ with 6 nodes, even with the overhead of the anonymization layer. The results show that native anonymization can provide robust DoS resistance with only a modest impact on performance, offering a solution to build secure and scalable PoS blockchains.
Web3 incorporates blockchain technology, decentralisation, and token economies, requiring new service design approaches. Existing design principles, tools, methods, and processes were developed before Web3 and may not address its unique characteristics. This paper extracts four Web3 characteristics − Ownership, Transparency, Tokenisation, and Community Governance − through literature review and constructs three corresponding service design tools: a service concept sheet, community member journey map, and service ecosystem map. Semi-structured interviews with five Web3 and service design experts evaluated these tools through content analysis, identifying improvement areas and refinement proposals.
Blockchain has become a critical enabler of secure data sharing in domains such as healthcare, finance, and digital identity. However, its reliance on classical cryptographic schemes (e.g., RSA, ECDSA, SHA-256) makes current systems vulnerable to emerging quantum computing attacks, raising risks to data confidentiality, integrity, and long-term trust. This paper addresses this challenge by proposing a modular hybrid framework that integrates post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) techniques into blockchain-based personal data sharing. The framework combines lattice-based encryption for protecting off-chain data, hash-based signatures for smart contract authentication, and quantum-safe zero-knowledge proofs and trusted execution environments (TEEs) for privacy-preserving verification and secure key management. To ground this design, we conducted a systematic literature review of 35 studies published between 2018 and 2025, analyzing security, scalability, interoperability, regulatory alignment, and user autonomy. Findings reveal that only 5 out of 35 studies (14%) explicitly addressed quantum threats, with over 80% focusing on theoretical resilience without testing implementation constraints. Furthermore, 90% of proposals neglected smart contract compatibility, and only 8% (3/35) incorporated TEEs, underscoring implementation barriers in contract execution, secure key management, and performance integration. Prototype evaluation demonstrated that the framework sustained 1,500 TPS on Hyperledger Fabric, achieved a 75% reduction in storage bloat using IPFS, and supported GDPR-aligned workflows with 99.98% audit log completion and 95% successful erasure requests. Privacy was further strengthened through zk-STARK proofs, which reduced unauthorized access by 40%, while TEEs improved key management efficiency by ~28%. Although PQC introduced 5–12 seconds of latency, consent revocation was processed in under 2.1 seconds, highlighting both the feasibility and trade-offs of practical post-quantum deployment. This work demonstrates a clear pathway toward quantum-resilient blockchain infrastructures that safeguard personal data, comply with regulatory standards, and maintain user trust in the quantum era.
Aniket P. Kakde, Karan M. Bhoyar, Muhammad Aiman Shad, Prof. Sudesh A. Bachwani
Autonomous agents powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) require reliable and standardized frameworks to connect tools, exchange contextual information, and synchronize tasks across diverse systems. Despite growing interest in such agents, current integration with external tools remains disjointed. Developers often have to manually create interfaces, handle authentication protocols, and navigate incompatible function-calling standards across platforms. To overcome these limitations and promote the evolution of agentic AI, it is critical to establish standardized communication protocols that ensure interoperability—enabling agents and systems to seamlessly discover each other’s capabilities, share data, and coordinate operations. This paper explores a structured overview of emerging communication standards for agents, focusing on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), Agent Communication Protocol (ACP), Agent-to-Agent Protocol (A2A), and Agent Network Protocol (ANP). MCP utilizes a JSON-RPC based client-server architecture to enable secure execution of tools and well-typed data transfer. ACP introduces a REST-compliant message structure with support for asynchronous streaming and multipart formats, facilitating rich, multimodal agent outputs.A2A enables agents to delegate tasks peer-to-peer using capability-rich Agent Cards, enabling scalable and distributed workflows across organizations. ANP facilitates agent discovery and secure collaboration in open networks, leveraging decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and semantic graphs based on JSON-LD.
Svitlana Popereshnyak, Dmytro Chornobryvets, Oleh Bakaiev
The accelerated growth of freelance platforms has brought to light several systemic challenges, such as elevated transaction costs, increased susceptibility to fraud, limited transparency, and inefficiencies in the selection of service providers. This study presents the design and implementation of an AI-powered platform aimed at improving the management and monitoring of freelance services. The platform architecture incorporates a multi-criteria risk assessment framework, which evaluates users based on their ratings, transaction history, account longevity, and digital wallet balance. To address issues of contractor reliability and operational anomalies, the system integrates advanced algorithms for automated selection and anomaly detection. A smart contract mechanism, implemented in Solidity and deployed on the Ethereum blockchain via Web3.js, ensures secure and verifiable transactions. For data storage and retrieval, the platform leverages PostgreSQL and MongoDB, while ECDSA cryptographic techniques are employed to reinforce transaction integrity and user authentication. Empirical evaluation indicates that the platform substantially mitigates fraud risks and enhances the efficiency and transparency of interactions between clients and freelancers. The proposed solution demonstrates the potential to support secure and scalable freelance operations and may be extended for deployment within decentralized finance ecosystems and digital commerce environments.
We introduce a modified Schnorr signature scheme to allow for time-bound signatures for transaction fee auction bidding and smart contract purposes in a blockchain context, ensuring an honest producer can only validate a signature before a given block height. The immutable blockchain is used as a source of universal time for the signature scheme. We show the use of such a signature scheme leads to lower MEV revenue for builders. We then apply our time-bound signatures to Ethereum's EIP-1559 and show how it can be used to mitigate the effect of MEV on predicted equilibrium strategies.