Blockchain technology provides a comprehensive solution to user access and energy trading for distributed energy Internet. Achieving market-based pricing, increasing the earnings of energy suppliers, attracting foreign capital and facilitating the upgrade of solar and wind energy are pressing issues. Drawing on the practices of centralised exchanges and blockchain cryptocurrency, the author designed the Cryptocurrency Energy Trading Platform (CETP), dividing the permissioned blockchain into the Energy Blockchain Platform (EBP) and the Energy Cryptocurrency Exchange (ECE). The frequently used real-time bidding scenario and the seldom-used power-using scenario are separated from each other. A market welfare model for real-time bidding is established and verified. With Energy Blockchain Cryptocurrency (EBC) as the trading medium, the platform allows external bidders to get involved in the bidding and transactions, which not only attracts the social capital to be used in the development of energy Internet but also helps stabilise the energy market prices, thus, advancing the energy Internet.
The labeling of electricity is considered an important mechanism to differentiate renewable power generation and, thus, to incentivize the expansion of green energy. However, today's systems for documenting and trading green energy certificates suffer from multiple challenges. These could be addressed by a digital solution that holistically collects and processes production and consumption data. Blockchain-based architectures have repeatedly been suggested for this purpose since they can provide transparency and can likely be accepted by a broad group of stakeholders. Yet, there are significant scalability and privacy issues of a blockchain-based approach for storing and processing fine-grained production and consumption data. In this paper, we propose and discuss a potential solution that levers succinct cryptographic zero-knowledge proofs to balance the required level of transparency and privacy while at the same time providing a high degree of scalability.
Henry Vargas, Carlos Lozano-Garzón, Germán A. Montoya, Yezid Donoso
Internet of Things (IoT) networks have been integrated into industrial infrastructure schemes, positioning themselves as devices that communicate highly classified information for the most critical companies of world nations. Currently, and in order to look for alternatives to mitigate this risk, solutions based on Blockchain algorithms and Machine Learning techniques have been implemented separately with the aim of mitigating potential threats in IIoT networks. In this paper, we sought to integrate the previous solutions to create an integral protection mechanism for IoT device networks, which would allow the identification of threats, activate secure information transfer mechanisms, and it would be adapted to the computational capabilities of industrial IoT. The proposed solution achieved the proposed objectives and is presented as a viable mechanism for detecting and containing intruders in an IoT network. In some cases, it overcomes traditional detection mechanisms such as an IDS.
Sri Nikhil Gupta Gourisetti, Ümit Cali, Kim‐Kwang Raymond Choo, Elizabeth Escobar · 12 authors
The global trend toward integration of distributed energy resources is opening doors to advanced, complex, and distributed marketplaces. Such advanced ecosystems, where utility-owned and non utility-owned assets can contribute toward grid operations, generally require distributed communication and grid architectures. We posit the potential of using Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) in supporting such applications, although their full potential has not been fully used, for example in designing long-term scalable solutions in operational technology applications. This is partly due to the lack of standardization across and between different DLTs, as well as other supporting building blocks (e.g., communication protocols). This paper attempts to address this gap by proposing a DLT cybersecurity stack specifically designed for researchers, DLT technology developers, and end users (such as utilities). The DLT cybersecurity stack has been notionally mapped to related cybersecurity components, namely the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite, and existing Smart Grid architecture frameworks. In addition, the paper discusses several cybersecurity implications, and demonstrates the potential uses of the DLT cybersecurity stack through multiple power and energy use cases. It is important to note that the stack can be also applied to the DLT use cases that are outside the power and energy domain. This work was performed by the Cybersecurity Task Force under the IEEE P2418.5 Blockchain for Energy Standard working group that part of the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Smart Buildings, Loads, and Customer Systems (SBLC) technical committee.
Younes Zahraoui, Ibrahim Alhamrouni, Saad Mekhilef, M. Reyasudin Basir Khan
Recently the interest in renewable energy has been increased worldwide. Therefore, the microgrid is considered more efficient and flexibility to improve the economic and environmental conditions by integrating the traditional distributed energy resources using technology devices and information technology (IT). Blockchain is one of these technologies, which has attracted in microgrid applications to build a sustainable society. The blockchain concept can provides immutability of the transactions in the microgrid such as record the amount of power generation and verify the transaction between the generators and end-users. blockchain based smart contract can be used for audit or solving a transaction dispute between the producers and the users by strip the necessity to link with third parties. In this paper, we present a number of recent research works related with blockchain application in microgrid and the application of the blockchain to improve the transactive resilience in the microgrid using smart contract.
Illegal use of electricity is very common in cryptocurrency mining farms, as energy bills are the most important component of the cost of cryptocurrency production. In this case, it raises the issue of how to detect illegal cryptocurrency mining. Innovative approaches are needed to identify data centers that illegally mine cryptocurrencies. This study proposes the use of unique noise and/or harmonic features of cryptocurrency generating machines to detect illegal cryptocurrency mining farms. Within the scope of this study, the characteristic harmonics originating from the data centers were determined by performing field tests on the neutral line of the electrical grid. In this study, it has been shown that electricity distribution companies can detect illegal cryptocurrency data centers using potential illegal electricity by monitoring energy quality data. Legal permissions can be obtained easily for detailed examination and detection in cryptocurrency data centers of using illegal electricity. With the proposed innovative approach, the time taken to detect illegal cryptocurrency mining farms using illegal electricity is reduced.
Xiaohan Hao, Wei Ren, Kim‐Kwang Raymond Choo, Naixue Xiong
The increasing volume of user and household data and number of smart meters compound the challenge of ensuring efficiency and privacy protection of electricity trading in existing smart grids. Therefore, to minimize the cost and latency in electricity trading, in this article, we design a new architecture for smart meters that can support transactions (using a blockchain-based wallet) and initiate transmission switch instructions (using smart contacts). Specifically, our approach comprises a decentralized peer-to-peer electricity trading scheme to enable automated electricity transmission (using smart contract instead of some centralized entity), and our blockchain-based anonymous authentication scheme to facilitate fast and privacy-aware roaming, in order to achieve privacy protection. We demonstrate that our proposed scheme is secure under the universally composable framework.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Smart Grid Security and Resilience
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Do Hai Son, Tran Thi Thuy Quynh, Tran Viet Khoa, Dinh Thai Hoang · 9 authors
A smart grid is an important application in Industry 4.0 with a lot of new technologies and equipment working together. Hence, sensitive data stored in the smart grid is vulnerable to malicious modification and theft. This paper proposes a framework to build a smart grid based on a highly effective private Ethereum network. Our framework provides a real smart grid that includes modern hardware and a smart contract to secure data in the blockchain network. To obtain high throughput but a low uncle rate, the difficulty calculation method used in the mining process of the Ethereum consensus mechanism is modified to adapt to the practical smart grid setup. The performance in terms of throughput and latency are evaluated by simulation and verified by the real smart grid setup. The enhanced private Ethereum-based smart grid has significantly better performance than the public one. Moreover, this framework can be applied to any system used to store data in the Ethereum network.
Charithri Yapa, Chamitha de Alwis, Madhusanka Liyanage, Janaka Ekanayake
Smart Grid 2.0 is envisaged to automate the operations of the intelligent electricity grid. Blockchain and smart contracts are integrated to facilitate the transformation from DSO-centric operations to consumer-oriented, distributed electricity grid management. The envisaged smart grids, integrated with blockchain would provoke challenges, which would hinder the maximum utilization of Distribute Energy Resources (DERs). This comprehensive review aims at analyzing the applicability of blockchain technology in Smart Grid 2.0, which would facilitate a seamless decentralization process. Further, the paper elaborates the blockchain-based applications of future smart grid operations and the role of blockchain in each scenario. The paper further provides a concise analysis on the blockchain integration challenges, thereby ensure secure and scalable, decentralized operations of future, autonomous electricity networks.
As the traditional inverters are transforming toward more intelligent inverters with advanced information and communication technologies, the cyber-attack surface has been remarkably expanded. Specifically, securing firmware of smart inverters from cyber-attacks is crucial. This paper provides expanded firmware attack surface targeting smart inverters. Moreover, this paper proposes a security module for transforming a conventional inverter to a firmware security built-in smart inverter by preventing potential malware and unauthorized firmware update attacks as well as fast automated inverter recovery from zero-day attacks. Furthermore, the proposed security module as a client of blockchain is connected to blockchain severs to fully utilize blockchain technologies such as membership service, ledgers, and smart contracts to detect and mitigate the firmware attacks. The proposed security module framework is implemented in an Internet-of-Thing (IoT) device and validated by experiments.
Yang Xu, Ziming Liu, Cheng Zhang, Ju Ren · 6 authors
Renewable energy sources (RES) and low-carbon technology users play a vital role in modern power systems. However, RES generation is easily affected by the environment. Meanwhile, the load, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and prosumers, accounts for most low-carbon technology users. Their power is usually superimposed on peak loads without dispatching, which also exacerbates the instability of the power system. Current optimal dispatching mechanisms mainly rely on centralized organizations, while their dispatching process is not open and transparent. In this article, we propose a blockchain-based trustworthy dispatching approach for the distribution network in high renewable energy penetrated power systems. We first develop an optimal dispatching model considering EVs’ charging behavior and the prosumers’ economic benefits. With the model, prosumers can be dispatched to balance power and consume renewable energy, reducing the impact of disorderly charging on the grid and the abandonment of RES generation. An orderly charging iteration optimization (OCIO) algorithm is proposed to implement orderly EV charging while considering the charging cost and the period. We also propose a modified particle swarm optimization (mPSO) algorithm to publish dispatching tasks based on real-time power balance. Furthermore, blockchain is applied as an open and transparent ledger to record each entity’s power generation and consumption information, ensuring that the dispatching process is trustworthy. Finally, the effectiveness of the dispatching approach is verified in the modified IEEE 33-bus test system and Ethereum-based smart contracts.
Power is considered as a boon for life, lifeline of a country's economy; a key instrument for the socio-economic evolution of any country. Pakistan faces the issue of power theft that worsens the economy of utilities. The purpose of research is to modernize Pakistan's power sector with the usage of Blockchain. Research is based on a comparative analysis of proof of stake (POS) and proof of authority (POA) consensus protocols for the power theft issue for small, medium, or large scales of consumers; results showing automated and pre-selected processing time of transactions running on different nodes of POS and POA along. By comparative analysis of POS and POA; it is shown that the performance of Blockchain remains unaffected by the consensus protocol. To further strengthen the findings the statistical analysis data is carried out to establish the uniqueness of sampled data. The result establishes that Blockchain performs equally well for different architectures of the proposed architecture. The consensus protocol helps in achieving a suitable governing style with no effect on Blockchain performance.
Abdullah Ayub Khan, Asif Ali Laghari, Desheng Liu, Aftab Ahmed Shaikh · 7 authors
A distributed power system operation and control node privacy and security are attractive research questions that deliver electrical energy systems to the participating stakeholders without being physically connected to the grid system. The increased use of renewable energy in the power grid environment creates serious issues, for example, connectivity, transmission, distribution, control, balancing, and monitoring volatility on both sides. This poses extreme challenges to tackle the entire bidirectional power flow throughout the system. To build distributed monitoring and a secure control operation of node transactions in the real-time system that can manage and execute power exchanging and utilizing, balancing, and maintaining energy power failure. This paper proposed a blockchain Hyperledger Sawtooth enabling a novel and secure distributed energy transmission node in the EPS-ledger network architecture with a robust renewable power infiltration. The paper focuses on a cyber-physical power grid control and monitoring system of renewable energy and protects this distributed network transaction on the blockchain and stores a transparent digital ledger of power. The Hyperledger Sawtooth-enabled architecture allows stakeholders to exchange information related to power operations and control monitoring in a private ledger network architecture and investigate the different activities, preserved in the interplanetary file systems. Furthermore, we design, create, and deploy digital contracts of the cyber–physical energy monitoring system, which allows interaction between participating stakeholders and registration and presents the overall working operations of the proposed architecture through a sequence diagram. The proposed solution delivers integrity, confidentiality, transparency, availability, and control access of the distribution of the power system and maintains an immutable operations and control monitoring ledger by secure blockchain technology.
Abdullah Musaed Alkhiari, Shailendra Mishra, Mohammed Alshehri
Smart Grid is a power grid that improves flexibility, reliability, and efficiency through smart meters. Due to extensive data exchange over the Internet, the smart grid faces many security challenges that have led to data loss, data compromise, and high power consumption. Moreover, the lack of hardware protection and physical attacks reduce the overall performance of the smart grid network. We proposed the BLIDSE model (Blockchain-based secure quantum key distribution and Intrusion Detection System in Edge Enables Smart Grid Network) to address these issues. The proposed model includes five phases: The first phase is blockchain-based secure user authentication, where all smart meters are first registered in the blockchain, and then the blockchain generates a secret key. The blockchain verifies the user ID and the secret key during authentication matches the one authorized to access the network. The secret key is shared during transmission through secure quantum key distribution (SQKD). The second phase is the lightweight data encryption, for which we use a lightweight symmetric encryption algorithm, named Camellia. The third phase is the multi-constraint-based edge selection; the data are transmitted to the control center through the edge server, which is also authenticated by blockchain to enhance the security during the data transmission. We proposed a perfect matching algorithm for selecting the optimal edge. The fourth phase is a dual intrusion detection system which acts as a firewall used to drop irrelevant packets, and data packets are classified into normal, physical errors and attacks, which is done by Double Deep Q Network (DDQN). The last phase is optimal user privacy management. In this phase, smart meter updates and revocations are done, for which we proposed Forensic based Investigation Optimization (FBI), which improves the security of the smart grid network. The simulation is performed using network simulator NS3.26, which evaluates the performance in terms of computational complexity, accuracy, false detection, and false alarm rate. The proposed BLIDSE model effectively mitigates cyber-attacks, thereby contributing to improved security in the network.
Abstract The integration of distributed renewable energy sources into the conventional power grid has become a hot research topic, all part of attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emission. There are many distributed renewable energy sources available and the network participants in energy delivery have also increased. This makes the management of the new power grid with integrated distributed renewable energy sources extremely complex. Applying the technical advantages of blockchain technology to this complex system to manage peer-to-peer energy sharing, transmission, data storage and build smart contracts between network participants can develop an optimal consensus mechanism within the new power grid. This paper proposes a new framework for the application of blockchain in a decentralised energy network. The microgrid is assumed to be private and managed by local prosumers. An overview description of the proposed model and a case study are presented in the paper.
Min Zhang, Frank Eliassen, Amir Taherkordi, Hans‐Arno Jacobsen · 6 authors
In smart grids, the large-scale integration of distributed renewable energy resources has enabled the provisioning of alternative sources of supply. Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading among local households is becoming an emerging technique that benefits both energy prosumers and operators. Since conventional energy supply is still needed to help fill the gap between local demand and supply when the local solar generation is not sufficient, demand–response management will keep playing an important role in the future P2P energy market. Blockchain and smart contract technology has gained increasing attention in P2P trading for its secure operation. The performance of blockchain-based P2P energy trading still remains to be improved, in terms of latency and cost of computation resources. This article studies the challenges of demand–response management in P2P energy trading and proposes a blockchain-empowered energy trading system for a community-based P2P market. The proposed demand–response mechanism is developed using two noncooperative games, in which dynamic pricing is applied for suppliers. The proposed energy trading system is prototyped on a cluster network, with a coordinator running as a smart contract in a Hyperledger blockchain. We implemented both on-chain and off-chain processing modes to study the system performance. The results from experiments with our prototype indicate that our proposed demand–response games have a great effect on reducing the net peak load, and at the same time, the off-chain processing mode provides lower latency and overhead compared to the on-chain mode while still keeping the same system integrity as the on-chain mode.
Tema ovog rada je primjena blockchain tehnologije u suvremenom elektroenergetskom sustavu. Blockchain tehnologija je zasnovana na peer to peer principu. Svaki čvor u sustavu dobiva svoju kopiju "lanca" koju čuva. Promjena u lancu tj. dodavanje nove transakcije iziskuje zajednički rad sudionika sustava. Jedan čvor izdaje transakciju koja se potvrđuje od drugih korisnika. Postoji puno vrsta različitih konsenzusa. Najčešće korišteni konsenzusi su Proof of Work i Proof of Stake. Takozvani rudari rješavaju kompleksne algoritme da bi potvrdili transakciju. To je izrazito kompleksan proces koji osigurava stalnu funkciju mreže. Blockchain izbacuje treću stranu u razmjeni informacija te je zamjenjuje sa transparentom i sigurnom mrežom. Na taj način sve strane profitiraju i dobivaju pouzdan sustav za korištenje. Prva cjelina koja se obrađuje u radu su solarne elektrane. Objašnjava se detaljnije tehnologija i njena primjena. Navode se potrebni dijelovi za izgradnju solarnog sustava na krovu kuće. Svaki dio se detaljnije objašnjava. Objašnjava se princip rada cijelog sustava te se navode tri osnovna sustava: sustav povezan na mrežu, samostalni sustav i hibridni sustav. Svaki od ta tri sustava se objašnjava detaljnije. Druga cjelina su baterijski spremnici. Kroz cjelinu se obrađuju osnovni pojmovi i karakteristične veličine vezane za baterijske spremnike. Navode se tri vrste baterijski spremnika: olovne, li-ionske i baterije na slanu vodu. Svaki od tih spremnika je detaljnije opisan da bi se što bolje razumio. Navode se baterijski spremnici sa današnjeg tržišta te primjećujemo trend ulaska velikih tvrtka u to područje. Za kraj poglavlja daje se osvrt na isplativost baterijskih spremnika u kućanstvima. Treća cjelina su mikromreže. U ovom poglavlju čitatelj može saznati nešto više o mikromreža. Objašnjava se što su mikromreže te njihov osnovni koncept. Navode se tri osnove vrste mikromreža: urbane, udaljene i agilne. Svaka od tih vrsta se pobliže objašnjava. Nakon toga se objašnjava detaljnije arhitektura mikromreža te potom se navode mogućnosti upravljanja. Upravljanje se dijeli u tri skupine: primarno, sekundarno i tercijarno. Ta se upravljanje izvode prema hijerarhiji. Za kraj poglavlja navode se neke prednosti i nedostaci koncepta mikromreža. Četvrta cjelina je opis Blockchain tehnologije. Kroz ovo poglavlje objašnjava se princip rada tehnologije. Navodi se nekoliko vrsta konsenzusa te se oni detaljnije objašnjavaju. Kao najpoznatije kriptovalute ukratko se objašnjavaju Bitcoin i Ethereum. Poglavlje dosta detaljno objašnjava tehnologiju te prikazuje njenu arhitekturu i navodi kriterij za tehnološku podobnost. Peta cjelina je usmjerena isključivo na primjenu blockchain tehnologije u elektroenergetskom sustavu. Objašnjava se ogromni potencijal tehnologije da unaprijedi poslovanje energetskih tvrtki. Analizira se veleprodaja električne energije i daje se moguće unapređenje strukture tržišta. Za kraj poglavlja se govori o digitalizaciji i IoT platformama. Digitalizacije će u budućnosti zahvatiti svaki sektor tako da je izrazio bitno objasnit način na koji će se implementira u elektroenergetski sustav. Šesta cjelina govori o Blockchain aplikacijama u mikromrežama. Generalna ideja svega je napraviti funkcionalnu platformu pomoću koje korisnici mogu trgovati sa svojim energetskim viškom. U slučaju manjka energije mogu je kupiti od susjeda ili bilo kojeg drugog korisnika platforme. Neki projekti koji se izdvajaju su: Brooklyn MicroGrid od LO3 Energy-a, Power Ledger i SunContract. Ove tri platforme se detaljnije objašnjavaju te se još navodi Key2Energery kao rani projekt sa velikim potencijalom. Sedma i zadnja cjelina upoznaje čitatelje s nekim problemima blockchain tehnologije. Iako tehnologija ima puno pozitivnih strana postoje i negativne sa gledišta potrošnje energije i emisije CO2. Kroz ovo poglavlje daju se estimacije potrošnje energije i emisije CO2 Proof of Work blockchaina. Ujedno se navodi utjecaj tehnologije na društvo i sveukupno globalno gospodarstvo te se uz to sve prilažu kratki proračuni.
Shriyash Mohril, Mahipal Singh Sankhla, Swaroop S. Sonone, Rajeev Kumar
DLT or Distributed Ledger Technologies and Blockchains have a noteworthy character in presenting current implementation in smart cities. Systems get complete ingress to benefits for dispersed claims and safety of DLT that incorporates agreement procedures and smart pacts by the application of blockchain technologies. The merger of data and communication technologies within the power industry has commanded to a rebellion referred to as a smart grid (SG). The evidence of a smart city is emerging very quickly, mixing smart services, grid, appliances, building, and house these subunits must be capable of interrelating, attaching, and controlling remotely, collaboratively, to accomplish an improved superiority of life, substantiality, energy-saving community, and financial growth. The present technology in the SG and smart cities stems from a security viewpoint. Data origin and data integrity are amongst the key worries in Internet of Things (IoT)-founded surroundings such as vehicular networks, smart cities, and SGs. Blockchain, energy chain, a prototype for storage and retrieving the data created by smart houses in a secure way are projected. The possible implementation of smart cities concerning technology growth within the forthcoming offers added valued conversation during this paper. Temporarily, some applied practices all across the planet, and therefore, the main barricades to its application are systematically articulated.
Hany A. Abdelsalam, Anurag K. Srivastava, Abdelrahman Eldosouky
With the development of distributed and renewable energy resources and smart grids, energy management systems that allow electricity prosumers to schedule their power usage, are seen as a prominent solution for reducing electricity costs. This paper presents a novel blockchain-based mechanism to incentivize prosumers to save energy, while preserving their privacy. In the proposed mechanism, each prosumer utilizes an energy management system that is based on the percentage power change (PPC) at each hour of the day. The use of PPC values allows the proposed blockchain to preserve the privacy of the prosumers as no sensitive information is shared. The calculated PPC values are shared among the prosumers. The prosumer with the minimum PPC value is selected as the validator of the blockchain, which is responsible for creating the next block of the blockchain. The problem of approving the validator, by other prosumers, is formulated using a novel zero-metric weighted average consensus. The communication model required to reach this consensus is investigated and the consensus value is analytically derived. Multiple test systems with varying number of prosumers are simulated and analyzed. The results demonstrate the capability of the proposed mechanism to sustain energy while preserving privacy in a scalable manner.
Guanyu Gao, Chengru Song, T.G. T. A. Bandara, Meng Shen · 8 authors
Microgrids, gaining traction from rising distributed generation for carbon reduction, demand novel solutions to regulate on- and off-grid operations, as well as both energy and monetary transfers between the microgrid and the central grid and among different microgrid participants. This research aims to develop and validate an intelligent microgrid management system to secure the competitiveness of Singapore’s energy market, by leveraging the inherent synergy between two emerging technologies, i.e., blockchain for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) solar power trading and fog computing for grid infrastructure management. For this vision, we have developed FogChain, an integrative, cost-effective, and scalable microgrid operating system (MGOS), consisting of three technical service layers: 1) a novel microgrid information infrastructure based on the fog-computing paradigm (i.e., intelligence on edge); 2) a blockchain-based microgrid service layer, providing smart contract and decentralized control capabilities for grid application development; and 3) a microgrid application layer (i.e., P2P energy trading) over the blockchain-based grid service. This MGOS would fundamentally transform how solar power is traded among participating electricity prosumers, leading to potentially new operational and business models. We have implemented the FogChain system and conducted extensive experiments to verify its performance advantages. Our results demonstrate that FogChain can efficiently process energy auction among 1000 participants with 1.1 s delay on average, reduce transmission cost up to 20% under the loss-aware trading mechanism, and reduce the solar yield prediction error to 0.11. Our system prototype suggests that FogChain provides a promising solution for efficient decentralized energy trading and intelligent distributed control for microgrids.
Li Zhu, Hao Liang, Hongwei Wang, Bin Ning · 5 authors
The communication-based train control (CBTC) system ensures the high efficiency and orderliness of trains and is widely used in urban rail transit networks. The adoption of wireless communication and network techniques makes the CBTC systems more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Identity authentication is an effective approach to improve system security. The existing identity authentication mechanisms in CBTC adopt a centralized key management system sensitive to single-point failures. To improve system security, in this article, we deploy a blockchain in CBTC systems. The client that runs the blockchain program not only acts as blockchain nodes to provide distributed key management for the CBTC system but they also work as a relay node to authenticate the communication between train control nodes in CBTC systems. Based on the blockchain-empowered distributed security scheme, the block producer selection and onboard blockchain client handoff decision problem are studied. With the objective to minimize the impact of the key updating process on CBTC system performance and keep the system security under a reasonable level, we formulate the block producer selection and onboard blockchain client handoff decision problem using the deep reinforcement learning approach. Extensive simulation results illustrate that the proposed blockchain-empowered security scheme can significantly improve the CBTC system security, and CBTC systems need to sacrifice part performance to ensure system security.