M. Ganesan Alias Kanagaraj, K. Sathiyamurthi, K.K. Karthick, V. Vimalnath · 6 authors
The complexities and inefficiencies that are ever increasing in the payment of insurance claims usually lead to delays, frauds, and disputes, and thus shows the need to allow more transparency and trust to the process. The paper presents a new blockchain-based smart contract platform that automates and simplifies insurance claim settlements through the combination of non-mutable distributed ledger technology and self-executable digital contracts. The presented approach will guarantee transparency since all events associated with claims will be recorded in the blockchain, thereby serving auditable and tamper-proof information which can be accessed by all stakeholders. Smart contracts are coded to ensure that claim conditions are met, triggered automated compensation on meeting policy criteria and the removal of human interaction in the process of decision making, so fraudulent practices and operational expenses are reduced to a minimum. Moreover, this strategy builds customer trust by providing real-time information and decentralized management. The efficiency of the system is measured in terms of transaction speed, cost effectiveness and reduction of fraud and this proves to be much better than the traditional conventional models that are centralized. In this study, the author has identified the revolutionary nature of blockchain to bring change in the insurance industry, a situation where claims can be settled through secure, transparent, and efficient methods.
AI development requires reliable datasets, yet today’s data supply chains face challenges in traceability, authenticity and ethical compliance. This study introduces a blockchain-assisted data integrity framework that ensures transparent and verifiable provenance for AI model training. The proposed system uses smart contracts to record data lineage, ownership, preprocessing transformations and annotation events. IPFS-based off-chain storage reduces blockchain load while ensuring immutability. A verification engine allows auditors to evaluate dataset compliance with ethical and regulatory standards, including bias mitigation and consent validation. Experiments utilized three real AI workflows: medical imaging, sentiment analysis and environmental sensor classification. Findings show a 92 percent reduction in provenance disputes and an improvement in audit efficiency by 41 percent. The system also provides tamper-resistant documentation supporting responsible AI governance. Latency tests show minimal performance impact due to parallelized validation nodes. This research demonstrates that blockchain can provide a robust backbone for ethical AI ecosystems, where transparency and trust are critical. Future work will explore confidentiality enhancements using zero-knowledge proofs.
The demand for such digital financial systems around the world is growing and there's pressure to use the latest technology to make them transparent, safe and not slow. Notable disruptive elements in this area include AI and Blockchain which may change investment desirability all together. In the combination of AI and Blockchain here you get these predictive/ pattern recognition and intelligent automation for such. to what the blockchain would not perfectly deliver as AI does. AI adds predictive/pattern recognition &intelligent automation to what the block-chain does it self as being that Immutable Ledger which is Decentralized (because there's no Central body) & Trustless (when you do this With Smart Contract so everything's Mathematically verified. In conclusion, we have presented an end-to-end intelligent auto-IDMS that fully incorporates AI and Blockchain. The system itself effectively performs in four stages namely Data Ingestion, Prediction Analytics, Decision Execution and Audit Logging. RT TRACKING – including financial & market news, indicators etc from around the world. Pattern recognition, data mining and asset performance prediction - AI models are just a kind of machine learning or deep learning models (only using another black box instead of what already existed) that use raw data feeds in order to diagnose for instance what is actually surprising, or figure out for example what the expected performance would be if there even was one -or look for strange fight-or-flight changes to make based off some lazy portfolio management. The readings are written to a smart contract of some blockchain and invested. All the investment decisions, model updates and transaction logs related to “rights” is written on-chain so the fund is a very transparent and traceable (and of course tamper-proof) application. That is this cool piece of federated learning that is privacy preserving as well as model accountability by fairly banking its data into a private local bank (yet delivering to the global AI models).- Here smart contracts can be use, were software meets KYC like compliance or due-diligence all the while investing logic just farms across a layer automation based on several risk limit profile Assignment and/or performance triggers. It also has a live dashboard to expose the investment thesis and model history, as well as its previous on-chain activity for anyone interested. Experimental results on real-world stock market historical data show that, compared to the traditional existed investment theories, the proposed trading system has higher overall accuracy and lower decision time and transparency. Then there's the blockchain (and friction-but-elseeverything's”) because we'd get to nearly all of operation for next-to-zero opex (old and forced-automatic: intermediaries back. We are laying down the groundwork for an intelligent, trustworthy and scalable financial infrastructure for next-generation investment ecosystems.
The Bitcoin-Hashed Transport Protocol: A First-Principles Approach to Metadata-Resistant Communication Technical Specification v1.1 — Proposed Nostr Implementation Possibility (NIP) Overview Modern encrypted communication protocols achieve strong content confidentiality but systematically fail to protect communication metadata. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) systems deployed at national firewalls and network chokepoints can identify, track, and selectively block encrypted communications without ever decrypting payload content—exploiting handshake patterns, packet size distributions, timing correlations, and protocol-specific signatures. The Bitcoin-Hashed Transport Protocol (BHTP) addresses this fundamental limitation through a novel approach: deriving ephemeral transport encryption keys from the Bitcoin blockchain, a globally synchronized and publicly observable source of cryptographic entropy. By eliminating key exchange negotiations entirely, BHTP renders encrypted traffic statistically indistinguishable from random noise to any observer not synchronized with the blockchain. Technical Architecture The Russian Doll Model BHTP implements a layered security architecture providing defense in depth: Outer Layer (Transport Obfuscation): AES-256-GCM encryption with keys derived via BLAKE3 from Bitcoin block hashes. Keys rotate approximately every 10 minutes with each new block. Provides censorship resistance by defeating real-time traffic analysis. Inner Layer (Payload Confidentiality): Standard NIP-44 encryption using XChaCha20-Poly1305 with keys derived from ECDH between Nostr identity key pairs. Provides true cryptographic confidentiality independent of transport layer security. This separation reflects that censorship resistance and confidentiality are orthogonal concerns with different security requirements and threat models. Key Derivation Function Kₙ = BLAKE3( Hₙ ‖ Hₙ₋₁ ‖ Tₙ ) Where: Hₙ: Current block hash (32 bytes) Hₙ₋₁: Previous block hash (32 bytes) Tₙ: Block timestamp (8 bytes, big-endian) The 72-byte input produces a 256-bit AES key. Including both current and previous hashes prevents edge-case failures during block propagation and increases entropy. Protocol Specification Event Structure (Kind 10059) json { "kind": 10059, "created_at": <unix_timestamp>, "tags": [ ["h", "<block_hash_hex>"], ["p", "<receiver_pubkey>"], ["iv", "<aes_gcm_nonce_hex>"] ], "content": "<base64_ciphertext>", "pubkey": "<sender_pubkey>", "sig": "<schnorr_signature>" } Anti-Fingerprinting Measures Standardized Padding: ISO/IEC 7816-4 padding to bucket sizes (1 KiB, 16 KiB, 256 KiB, 1 MiB) prevents size-based traffic analysis Lookback Window: Decryption attempts against Hₙ, Hₙ₋₁, Hₙ₋₂ accommodate block propagation latency and minor reorganizations Timestamp Validation: Events rejected if created_at exceeds 20 minutes from referenced block timestamp Failure Mode Handling Missing block headers: Queue messages until consensus reestablished (MUST NOT fallback to cleartext) Decryption failure: Retain temporarily for potential reorganization; discard after 1 hour Inner layer failure: Discard silently (message not intended for recipient) Security Analysis Threat Model Assumes adversary with: network observation at backbone level, sophisticated DPI capabilities, active probing, historical traffic recording ("harvest now, decrypt later"), and full blockchain access. Bounded by: no endpoint compromise, no private key access, no blockchain manipulation capability. Security Properties Traffic Indistinguishability: AES-256-GCM ciphertext is computationally indistinguishable from random bytes; bucket padding eliminates size-based fingerprinting Cost Asymmetry: Legitimate users: ~0.2ms per message. Mass surveillance adversary: O(N × B) decryption attempts for N packets across B blocks Layer Independence: Transport layer compromise reveals only NIP-44 ciphertext; inner layer security unaffected The Permanent Record Threat: Explicitly acknowledged—outer layer provides temporal obfuscation, not long-term secrecy. Inner NIP-44 layer provides actual confidentiality. Performance Characteristics Operation Time Throughput BLAKE3 (72 bytes) ~50 ns 1.4 GB/s AES-256-GCM (1 KB) ~150 ns 6.6 GB/s Total per message ~0.2 ms 5,000 msg/s Bandwidth overhead: ~3x for small messages (dominated by padding), decreasing proportionally for larger payloads. Implementation Bitcoin Header Acquisition Options: Full node (most trustworthy, ~500 GB storage) SPV client (~50 MB headers with proof-of-work validation) Multi-API queries (lightweight, trust assumptions) Library Requirements: Rust: blake3, aes-gcm, bitcoin crates JavaScript: blake3, @noble/ciphers, bitcoinjs-lib Python: blake3, cryptography, python-bitcoinlib Reference implementation provided in Rust demonstrating complete encryption/decryption flow. Contributions Complete cryptographic construction for time-based transport obfuscation using Bitcoin block hashes Layered "Russian Doll" security architecture separating censorship resistance from confidentiality Full protocol specification with data structures, procedures, padding, and failure handling Formal security analysis with proofs for indistinguishability, cost asymmetry, and layer independence Performance benchmarks and implementation guidance Keywords traffic analysis, censorship resistance, metadata protection, Bitcoin, Nostr, ephemeral encryption, deep packet inspection, protocol obfuscation, BLAKE3, AES-256-GCM, NIP-44, decentralized communication
V. Samuthira Pandi, D Shobana, J Lakshmi Priya, Ala’a Al-Shaikh · 6 authors
Power transfer is a promising new technology Wireless charging networks are being deployed for a RES array, which will be used in electric vehicles, industrial automation, and biomedical implants. Yet, due to power losses, electromagnetic interference, as well as the potential of unauthorized access or malicious attacks, guaranteeing the reliability and security of WPT systems is still a big challenge. Conventional monitoring and defect detection mechanisms need to be more efficient, reactive in real-time, and prone to data tampering. Implementation of the blockchain is a promising usable solution to solve these issues due to decentralized, tamper-proofed and transparent data management characteristics of the technology. At the same time, the research presents results on the implementation of one of the blockchain-oriented technologies in terms of constant control of normal operating conditions and detection of defects in wireless power transfer (WPT) networks, thus improving the efficiency of the operation while ensuring the security of the entire system. This study presents a novel data integrity assurance and autonomous fault detection framework for WPT systems by integrating blockchain with real-time sensor networks and artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytics. Automated Responses: Smart contracts allow automatic reactions when anomalies are detected, minimizing downtime and maintenance costs. Moreover, it enables secure and transparent records of power transactions using distributed ledger technology (DLT), preventing unauthorized access to energy and enhancing accountability of the system. Results of simulation and experimental validation show the gain in defect detection accuracy, reduced fault reporting latency, and improved cyber-attack resilience of blockchain-enabled WPT networks. This research proposes a pioneering model that can utilize blockchain-based monitoring solutions to enhance the design of WPT networks, providing an innovative proof of concept that can address the limitations of such systems. In the future, research directions that address challenges such as optimizing consensus mechanisms specifically for low-power IoT devices and investigate hybrid blockchain models could improve scalability and increase transaction speed to facilitate potential real-world applications of WPT in practical cases.
Hailong Zhang, Hong Zhao, Qiannan Chen, Chong Sun · 12 authors
Despite growing blockchain adoption in energy markets, its integration into critical operational functions — particularly relay protection— remains limited. Existing solutions fail to meet the stringent requirements of cryptographic auditability, cross-domain coordination, and configuration integrity in hierarchical grid architectures. To address this gap, we propose a three-tier blockchain-based information architecture for relay protection, featuring hybrid PoA+PBFT consensus (1.8 s finality), zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) for privacy-preserving setting verification, and smart contracts for tamper-evident logging. Evaluated on a Hyperledger Fabric v2.5 testbed across provincial, municipal, and substation tiers, the system achieves 40.2% faster hierarchical synchronization and 100% integrity of operation records. While unsuitable for sub-100 ms tripping, the architecture excels in non-real-time workflows such as setting management, fault archiving, and collaborative diagnostics— laying the foundation for secure, auditable, and interoperable protection systems.
Modern digital ecosystems rely heavily on Open Source Software (OSS), but maintaining license compliance is still a major and unsolved problem. Current approaches rely on either manual audits, which are expensive, sluggish, and prone to error, or automatic scanners, which frequently fail with dual or bespoke licenses. Businesses, entrepreneurs, and academic institutions are exposed to serious legal, financial, and reputational concerns as a result of this divide. This project suggests a multi-layered OSS License Verification Framework that incorporates human-in-the-loop learning, logical reasoning, evidence-based validation, provenance tracking, and cryptographic assurance in order to overcome these constraints. To establish technical ground truth, the system starts with SBOM and SPDX provenance data, builds an attestation graph, and uses binary inference and differential tracing. License requirements are represented as vectors of obligations, assessed using a constraint solver and validated using zero-knowledge proofs (zk-proofs) to give auditors reliable proof of compliance. A human oracle ensures adaptation to changing license ecosystems by resolving ambiguities and continuously enhancing the knowledge base. The suggested framework seeks to provide an end-to-end, intelligent, and auditable solution for OSS licensing compliance by fusing automation with verifiability and adaptability. The results will help a variety of stakeholders, such as businesses looking to reduce risk, startups seeking quicker innovation, and academic institutions using OSS responsibly, all of which will contribute to a more secure and reliable opensource ecosystem.
As artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in critical sectors like finance and medicine, we face a pressing challenge: how to guarantee its integrity. At the heart of this issue is a conflict between the proprietary nature of AI models, which are valuable assets, and the growing need for transparency in their operations. This paper lays out an architectural blueprint that resolves this tension by bringing together blockchain technology and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs). We show how it's possible to verifiably confirm that an AI model has run correctly without exposing any of its confidential internal parameters. We walk through a simulation where a Deep Neural Network (DNN) produces an inference, and a ZKP is generated to prove the calculation used the legitimate model weights. This proof, along with the public data, is then recorded on a decentralized ledger, creating a permanent, auditable trail. A key part of our work is a comparison of two major ZKP technologies, zk-SNARKs and zk-STARKs, where we break down their respective trade-offs. Our simulation's effectiveness is demonstrated through resilience testing; it successfully identified and rejected 100% of fraudulent attempts, including both tampered outputs and counterfeit models. This demonstrates the architecture's efficiency in creating a provably secure and auditable trail, lighting a path toward genuinely trustworthy AI.
Raghavan Sheeja, Sherwin Richard R., Shreenidhi Kovai Sivabalan, Srinivas Madhavan
<p>The generational improvement has significantly converted several industries, and the area of intellectual property rights (IPR) isn’t any exception. IPRs, being as important as they are, need to be securely managed in some way. Blockchain, with its decentralized and immutable nature, gives a promising answer for enhancing the management of intellectual property (IP). This paper explores the strategic integration of blockchain generation for the control of IPR. The proposed system consists of a complete system, from registration and validation to predictive evaluation and royalty distribution, all facilitated through clever contracts. The use of zero-knowledge proofs guarantees the safety and confidentiality of sensitive information. The paper discusses the advantages and future implications of implementing this type of device.</p>
The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) has ushered in an era of unprecedented data generation and automation. However, this interconnectivity introduces profound security and privacy challenges, particularly concerning the centralized aggregation of sensitive data for machine learning model training. Traditional cloud-centric approaches are vulnerable to single points of failure, data breaches, and privacy infringements. This paper investigates the synergistic integration of two transformative technologies-Blockchain and Federated Learning (FL)-as a robust framework to address these critical shortcomings. Federated Learning enables the collaborative training of machine learning models across distributed devices without centralizing raw data, thereby preserving data locality and privacy. Blockchain technology complements this by providing a decentralized, immutable, and transparent ledger to orchestrate the FL process securely. It facilitates trustworthy model aggregation, verifiable participant contribution, and resilient consensus mechanisms, mitigating risks such as model poisoning and malicious node attacks. The integration establishes a verifiable and auditable trail for all transactions within the FL lifecycle, from participant selection to global model updates. This research delineates the architectural principles of this integration, analyzes its efficacy in enhancing security and privacy for IoT and CPS, and discusses prevailing challenges and future research trajectories aimed at realizing a secure and trustworthy intelligent infrastructure.
The complexity class Quantum Statistical Zero-Knowledge ($\mathsf{QSZK}$), introduced by Watrous (FOCS 2002) and later refined in Watrous (SICOMP, 2009), has the best known upper bound $\mathsf{QIP(2)} \cap \text{co-}\mathsf{QIP(2)}$, which was simplified following the inclusion $\mathsf{QIP(2)} \subseteq \mathsf{PSPACE}$ established in Jain, Upadhyay, and Watrous (FOCS 2009). Here, $\mathsf{QIP(2)}$ denotes the class of promise problems that admit two-message quantum interactive proof systems in which the honest prover is typically computationally unbounded, and $\text{co-}\mathsf{QIP(2)}$ denotes the complement of $\mathsf{QIP(2)}$. We slightly improve this upper bound to $\mathsf{QIP(2)} \cap \text{co-}\mathsf{QIP(2)}$ with a quantum linear-space honest prover. Specifically, the honest prover uses space linear in the size of the transcript of the original $\mathsf{QSZK}$ proof system. A similar improvement also applies to the upper bound for the non-interactive variant $\mathsf{NIQSZK}$. Our main techniques are algorithmic versions of the Holevo-Helstrom measurement and the Uhlmann transform, both implementable in quantum linear space, implying polynomial-time complexity in the state dimension, using the recent space-efficient quantum singular value transformation of Le Gall, Liu, and Wang (CC, to appear).
Tan Gürpinar, Mehmet Akif Gulum, Melanie Martinelli
Enterprises today face increasing threats from cyberattacks, supply chain disruptions, and systemic market risks, making the enhancement of organizational resilience through advanced risk management frameworks increasingly critical. Traditional approaches often struggle to balance data privacy, cross-organizational collaboration, and real-time adaptability. While distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) initially enabled cryptocurrencies, they have evolved into a foundational infrastructure for decentralized AI applications. This study investigates how decentralized AI techniques, particularly federated learning, can support joint risk management processes in enterprise networks. First, a comprehensive review of decentralized AI methods is conducted to identify approaches suitable for enterprise risk management. Next, expert interviews are used to contextualize these insights, highlighting practical considerations, organizational challenges, and adoption constraints. Building on the literature and expert feedback, a decentralized framework is developed to allow organizations to securely share risk-related insights while preserving data privacy and control over proprietary information. The framework is validated through a technical prototype, combining architectural design with empirical proof-of-concept experiments on federated learning benchmarks. Results demonstrate the feasibility of achieving near-centralized model accuracy under privacy constraints, while also highlighting communication and governance issues that need to be addressed in real-world deployments. The study presents a structured comparison of decentralized AI techniques and a validated concept for enhancing supply chain risk prediction, fraud detection, and operational continuity across enterprise networks.
This article analyzes the prospects and limitations of implementing blockchain technologies in the insurance industry, with a particular focus on the Russian market. The relevance of the study is driven by the sector's conservatism, rising fraud, pressure from digitalization, and demand for transparency. Despite blockchain's potential, its widespread adoption faces barriers: regulatory uncertainty, high costs, and mistrust among market participants. Therefore, the authors identify and categorize the technological, regulatory, and organizational limitations to the large-scale use of distributed ledgers in insurance. Particular attention is paid to assessing the prospects for adapting blockchain technologies to the Russian insurance market, taking into account its specific characteristics.
The need for strong cybersecurity frameworks in the healthcare industry has increased due to the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices and electronic health records (EHRs) exponential growth. This paper presents HealthSentinel-ZKP, a novel framework that leverages federated neuro-symbolic deep learning and zero-knowledge blockchain to secure electronic health data. In contrast to earlier models, HealthSentinel-ZKP combines CNNs, Transformers, and symbolic reasoning for multi-perspective intrusion detection. Federated learning and zero-knowledge proof mechanisms protect data privacy. Using an immutable ZKPenhanced blockchain, the system guarantees GDPR-compliant auditing and has a dual-stream anomaly detection architecture. HealthSentinel-ZKP is a next-generation healthcare cybersecurity paradigm, as demonstrated by experimental results on benchmark datasets that demonstrate superior performance in zero-day attack detection and privacy preservation.
In the decentralized Internet environment, growing awareness of user data sovereignty has raised higher requirements for privacy protection in blockchain scenarios. To enhance the security and controllability of data authorization, this study develops a model integrating zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), field disclosure control, and multi-party joint verification. The ZKP ensures verifiable privacy, field disclosure control minimizes data exposure, and multi-party verification strengthens consistency and tamper resistance. Through this collaborative integration, the model forms a unified framework for secure and transparent data authorization. Experimental results on two blockchain datasets show that the model outperforms comparison approaches in authorization accuracy, field matching consistency, and verification efficiency, achieving a minimum verification loss of 0.248 and a true positive rate of 96.8%. Under simulation conditions, it maintains stable performance across different complexity levels, with authorization accuracy of 95.1% and field validation consistency of 96.5%. Compared with traditional single-mechanism methods, the model delivers comprehensive improvements in privacy strength, verification transparency, and collaborative trust, demonstrating strong potential for application in high-sensitivity blockchain privacy protection scenarios, particularly in privacy-critical domains such as healthcare record management, financial data exchange, and supply chain traceability.
This contribution will focus on geographical / geopolitical changes over time as depicted in maps on stamps. A traditional definition of a stamp would probably be ‘usually a rectangular piece of paper of varying colour and denomination, affixed to a letter etc. to cover the cost of postage’. Today, however, the word rectangular could easily be replaced by triangular, round or even map shaped. The paper could be cloth or even chocolate. Stamps even exist as crypto or non-fungible tokens, in other words a stamp with a digital twin. All these changes over time are new revenue models for postal authorities, as very few people use stamps to pay for postage. Stamps, in whatever form, offer a small window into a nation's society, nature and culture. They aim to give a country a profile by depicting its people, identity and territory. People and identity are often linked to heritage. This leads to themes of monarchs and political leaders, flags and heraldry, traditional costumes, folklore, etc. However, when looking at the timeline of a country's stamp issues, the timeframe provides a context for the choices made regarding the themes. In the case of territory, the nation or area is represented and identified by locational and boundary features. These could be typical landscape features and maps. The first stamp issues of a 'new' nation often include a map claiming the territory and a flag to emphasise identity. Figure 1a shows an example from the Faroe Islands. In such situations, stamps can become geopolitical tools. This can be harmless, as in Figure 1a, where the outline of a country is depicted. However, sometimes nations use the map on the stamp to claim part of the territory of neighbouring countries. It is interesting for cartographers to look at the design of these carto-philatelic items. The maps depicted are not always designed with the medium, the small piece of paper, in mind. The maps could be reduced details of existing maps or they could be designed specifically for the stamp. In many cases, however, the rules of cartographic design are not necessarily followed. Figure 1b shows the outline of France on a stamp from Equatorial Guinea. In cases such as this, external organisations create stamp series for a postal authority on subjects that do not offer a window into a nation's society but have commercial objectives. There are also more sophisticated stamp designs (Figure 1c). Liechtenstein's First Day Cover shows a map of land use, which on the stamp is transformed into a schematic diagram symbolising land use. The cancellation stamp is also a map. Time series of map stamps exist in many forms. The most common is a series of historic maps of a region, showing the evolving knowledge of the shape of the area as new surveying techniques became available. A series of four topographic map details was issued to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Ordnance Survey (Figure 1d). Canada issued a series of four stamps showing the expansion of the country over time (Figure 1e). Comparing different map stamp issues of an area over time can show how the perspectives of the authorities have changed, introducing geopolitics in the time series. Several examples are shown in the figure. Figure 1f shows Panama, first as part of Colombia, as an independent nation, with a gap because of the Panama Canal Zone and the situation when the Canal Zone was returned to Panama. Pakistan, shortly after independence, showed the territory of Kashmir and Jammu as disputed, but more recently is seen as an integral part of the country (Figure 1g). Figure 9 shows Suriname. Its extent in the south-east and south-west overlaps with the claims of French Guiana and Guyana respectively. However, at the 15th year of their independence, the Surinam map inadvertently omits these claims, which are reinstated in later postage stamp editions. Sometimes the time series of stamps are issued to cover up mistakes. The stamps of Guernsey (Figure 1h) are such an example, which issued a map with an incorrect latitude, placing the island near Madrid. Other anomalies will be discussed in this paper with a focus on the influence of map design.
In fall 1876, Brigham Young left Salt Lake City for his annual winter trip to St. George. But this year would be different. For the first time in more than three decades, the Saints would dedicate a temple. In the Nauvoo temple, Young and others had performed proxy baptisms for deceased relatives and friends and participated in the endowment ceremony and sealings for themselves. These practices had continued in the Salt Lake Endowment House along with proxy sealings for deceased individuals. But the temple in St. George would mark a fundamental change; under Young's leadership, the Saints would perform all ordinances that they saw as essential for salvation, including the endowment, for both the living and the dead. The temple ceremonies expressed the highest ideals of the Latter-day Saints: eternal covenants that bound families together and bound them to God.As he left for St. George, Young knew his health might not allow him to live for many more years. He had begun his time as presiding church leader by emphasizing the completion of the Nauvoo Temple even though it became increasingly apparent the Saints would have to abandon the temple shortly thereafter. And now, in the twilight of his life, Young would oversee the dedication of another temple. For Young, the visit to St. George promised to be a time of profound spiritual significance.Leaving on November 1 from Salt Lake City, Young went to St. George with a traveling party that included his wife Amelia Folsom, daughter Shemira, son Brigham Jr., apostles Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon, and Truman Angell (Young's brother-in-law and temple architect).1 The traveling party was eager to see the temple as they crossed the red hills into St. George. The “pure white” temple, Cannon recorded, “stood out in bold relief and in marked contrast with the black and red hills which surround the little valley in which St. George stands.” “It excited peculiar emotions in all the party to witness once more a temple erected to the Most High God,” he wrote.2 As the party came into town, the temple workmen welcomed them, carrying two banners. The first proclaimed “Holliness to the Lord” and depicted Zion's workmen. The second announced, “Welcome to Brigham Young our chief Builder.” The workmen took off their hats and bowed to Young and his companions, who returned the salute.3The next day, Young and the other leaders inspected the temple. In the basement, they saw the cast iron baptismal font, which was being bronzed, sitting on twelve oxen, representing the tribes of Israel. They then ascended into the “grand hall” of the temple. Cannon gave a glimpse of the party's emotions: “The hall is beautifully proportioned and the workmanship is very superior. . . . I felt as though I trod on holy ground. A person who can enter that room without feeling peculiar sensations and being impressed that it was a holy place must be either very thoughtless or dead to all sensibility.”4 Young and his companions continued the tour up to the roof. “The power of God rested upon us,” Woodruff noted.5Ill health soon robbed Young of his opportunity to be involved in the temple's final preparations before a planned partial dedication on New Year's Day. When he arrived, one workman observed that he “looked well and seems in better health than he did last winter.” But Young's health took a turn for the worse, struck both by a heavy cold and a flaring of the rheumatism in his feet.6 Apostle Woodruff blessed him and “rebuked his fever.”7 A week later, Young fainted twice. After two more weeks, Young was still ailing with rheumatic fever. His feet were so painful that he could barely place them on the floor. Woodruff and others again blessed him.8 While the cold passed, the rheumatism remained and kept him homebound for three weeks in December. Finally, on Christmas, Young visited the temple.9During his sickness, Young had delegated key responsibilities to Woodruff, Brigham Young, Jr., and others.10 Young now found the temple bustling with activity, even on Christmas, as men and women hurried to prepare for a preliminary dedication. Charles Walker, one of the workmen, wrote, “The sisters are busy sewing the carpet and getting the screen ready. All are busy pushing the good work along.”11 Brigham Jr. saw divine intervention in his father's improvement, as the Saints had prayed that their prophet could attend the dedication.12 Young spent the evening before the dedication with Woodruff, apostle Erastus Snow, and Brigham Jr., who each would deliver a dedicatory prayer. Young told them that the written prayers were good but needed to be longer.13On New Year's Day, over 1200 Saints crowded into the temple for the preliminary dedication. The final portions of the temple would be finished so that a complete dedication could occur in April. Young's rheumatism left him so crippled that men carried him throughout the temple in a chair with rollers. Young had waited too long for a temple dedication to miss this occasion.At 1:00 in the afternoon, the services began in the basement with a choir singing, “The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning,” a hymn sung at the first temple dedication Young had attended—at Kirtland forty years earlier. Woodruff knelt in prayer at the west end of the baptismal font to dedicate the basement, with Young sitting nearby. After Woodruff's prayer, the choir sang a “Temple Dedication Song” that spoke of the revered place of Young as the Saints’ prophet: We thank thee, God for Inspiration,Poured out upon our Living Head,Who holds the keys of Revelation,And ordinances for the dead.14With Young carried in his chair, the Saints then moved upstairs, where Erastus Snow offered a dedicatory prayer for that floor. Snow asked the congregation to remain behind, in silence, while a group of about thirty (including Young carried in his chair) went upstairs to a sealing room so that Brigham Jr. could pronounce a final prayer.15After the group returned from the sealing room, Young hobbled with his cane to the pulpit to reflect upon the Saints’ history of temple building and the significance of the present moment. He saw the occasion as a crucial moment in the history of the world. Solomon had built a temple but, according to Young's understanding, had performed “very few if any endowments,” and the scriptures did not record whether Enoch had also constructed temples in his efforts to build a “people so pure and holy that they were not permitted to remain with the wicked inhabitants of the earth, but were taken to another place.”Young spoke of the Saints’ early efforts to build temples. In Kirtland, they had performed neither baptisms for the dead nor the endowment ceremony. Joseph Smith had planned for temples in Jackson County and Far West, Missouri, but they had not been built. Looking into the audience, he saw individuals who had worked with him to build the Nauvoo Temple. “They got it nearly completed before it was burned,” Young said. The temple in St. George was different. The Saints would not be driven from this temple. They would enjoy it. And in the temple they would do work—endowments for the dead—that “we have no knowledge of any other people enjoying since the days of Adam.”But Young worried about the spiritual welfare of his people. “Those that can see the spiritual atmosphere,” he commented, “can see that many of the Saints are still glued to this Earth and lusting and longing after the things of this world, in which there is no profit.” “Where are the eyes and hearts of this people? Where is their interest for their own salvation and that of their forefathers?” Young asked. If the Saints awoke to their privilege of participating in the “salvation of the human family,” the temple “would be crowded, as we hope it will be, from Monday morning until Saturday night.”“What do you suppose the fathers would say if they could speak from the dead?” he queried. Would their ancestors say they had “lain here thousands of years, here in this prison house, waiting for this dispensation to come? Here we are, bound and fettered in the association of those who are filthy?” The relatively few Saints had a great responsibility, he taught. The world's dead depended on the Saints for their salvation: “All the angels in heaven are looking at this little handful of people. . . . So also are the devils in hell looking at this people too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves.”He wanted to wake up his people. “Can the Fathers be saved without us? No. Can we be saved without them? No.” Until other temples were dedicated, the Saints would need to converge on St. George. Young had stopped baptisms for the dead in the Endowment House the previous fall. At the time, the Saints had pleaded with him. But now, he said, they could come to St. George and perform the proxy work for their deceased ancestors and free them from spirit prison.Looking at the congregation, Young lamented that some of those present were too involved in the world of Gentiles, particularly in mining. “Some of our brethren,” he grumbled, “are putting their wives and daughters into their society, and will go to the devil with them too, if they do not look out.” He contrasted his own attitude: “It has been the Kingdom of God with me. What I have, I have got in this kingdom.” Some men present were corrupt and would go to hell unless they repented. “You may think this is plain talk.” But, if they did not change, they would be faced with even plainer talk: “If you should ever go to the gates of heaven, Jesus will say he never knew you.”Gripping his hickory cane, Young peered at the congregation: “I do not know whether the people are satisfied with the services of the dedication of the Temple or not. But I do not mean to and never expect to be satisfied,” he continued, “until the devil is whipped and driven from off the face of the Earth.” As he spoke these last words, Young struck the pulpit with his cane so forcefully that he left three marks.16 “There,” Young said, “let those marks remain” as a testimony of his fervor in warning the Saints.17 The striking of the pulpit left a deep impression on his audience. “The marks are on the stand,” one congregant wrote, “and will remain there as a testimony of the truth and the great power by which he spake.”18The sermon was classic Young. He always spoke to the Saints directly, both to laud them and to call them to repentance. He had not mellowed with age. Perhaps he had even grown more cantankerous as his physical pain and his frustration with some Saints mounted as the years passed by. And the actions of the congregation that day must have reminded Young of the slowness of the Saints to reform their Word of Wisdom habits; so much tobacco chewing and spitting occurred that it would take days to clean the floor of the assembly room.19 But most of the faithful Saints in the temple seemed to appreciate Young's words. John Nuttall recorded that Young's sermon had given him greater “determination to press onward in the great work of the last days, in the redemption and salvation to myself, wives, children, and the human family.”20As he sometimes did, Young likely tempered his language before publication of the sermon, revising his sermons for the press in the following days.21 The published remarks have no swearing. But Nuttall recorded that Young had called Saints who engaged in mining as “damned fools” and John Smith wrote that he called them “spawn of hell.” Young did not apologize for his language, saying “he would not ask to be excused for swearing for he intended to swear worse yet at the April conference.”22With the temple dedicated, Young and others prepared the spaces for ordinance work. Young had called men and women who had deep experience in the ordinances in the Endowment House, several of whom he had asked to move to St. George, to assist. First on the list was Woodruff, who would supervise the ordinance work under Young's direction. Brigham Jr. and Young's wife Lucy Bigelow were called as well.23Young clearly wanted his family members to engage in the work of the temple. On January 9, Lucy's daughter Susie became the first individual baptized for the dead in the temple. Using his crutch and walking stick, Young hobbled up the steps to the font so he could witness as Susie was baptized for a deceased friend by Woodruff. Standing near the font, Charles Walker “could not refrain from shedding tears of joy on beholding the commencement of so great a work.”24 Young participated with Woodruff in performing the by the on of that the Young was not participating in a moment for his he was also the of the ordinance the day of baptisms and Young a few for the better in the temple also the first deceased to endowment by proxy was who had performed in Nauvoo and in Salt Lake City and who had been called by Young to in the St. George called it the and work I ever While and Woodruff were with the endowment, of the workmen were in the was not proxy that took Lucy's daughter own endowment on January a later, of also endowment, as did also the of the of the endowment ceremony as another essential When Joseph Smith had the in he had not it to Young and others In the the ceremony had not been But in those decades, the endowment had been performed in one place at a the House in Salt the Endowment the of Young and other Young was the church for a in which the endowment would be performed in at from each and a written would be was not in had been performed in the Endowment he saw the opportunity to long given him by Joseph after performing the first in had Young, this is not we have the we could under the in which we are I you to take this in and all these Young had taken that in to the ceremony in the Nauvoo Temple in the winter of but he would now supervise Woodruff the of all the ordinances of the including the temple Brigham Jr. and John Nuttall Young worked with them, revising and as they When they had Young told Woodruff, you have before you to on the in all the until the of the of also to perform the ceremony for of people. on that he spent the day and evening with Woodruff and others the of Young in of the Young and his had completed the of and revising the ceremony and the of the On Woodruff recorded that Young been all winter to up a of as as to performing for the dead for the first time, a final temple ordinance began in St. George as sealing deceased to deceased to a crucial of temple from on salvation of individuals and in the ceremonies of for the the endowment, and to the to family also spent much of his time following the New Year's dedication the Saints of the and in the temple. A few weeks after the he a to with for Saints who would to the temple. Young the of those the spiritual but the Saints should all over before the prepare the Saints and Young temple to visit both to about the temple and the wanted to they would whether they would come for their own ordinances or also be prepared to do ordinances for deceased friends and temple returned with many from the Saints that they to Young. When should their Young's “If of a and early of and as early as twelve but as a years is early When the temple to be to their should they be In Would who before the of need to be baptized for the dead or temple ordinances sealing to their No. need any No. deceased who had been out of be to their or to their “They should be to the one who has the and on who would be for temple their a faithful to a endowment and be to and What about a individual to their own they be baptized by until we see one that Young What about the are not Young came by from Saints in on Would a in in a need to the ceremony in the upon whether there has been a record kept of or not. If there has it will be Young taught. on individuals in family had two or three living their is the for to The as Young other Saints to attend the temple, he was not a He that would him to do proxy ordinance work for For Young wrote to the of Young's first wife who had more than a earlier. Young asked a living in to the and of so that the temple work could be performed on their ordinance work performed by Young his for the salvation of the first of some of his Young performed his first proxy endowment for first John who had after three of Young had as proxy for in sealing the for in the Nauvoo temple before he had been to for this The next day, he performed temple for first also prepared to do proxy ordinances for his but the end of his in St. George, he he was to go the He asked his Brigham Jr., and his to the proxy and sealing for John and Young. Brigham Jr. recorded that day, for the dead is a of and of the most and in of spiritual was in the St. George temple, on the that Saints should be to a faithful than their own who might the The first performed in the St. George temple, on were the of two of his and and the deceased of But it was not relatives of his wives who were to Young. On April John called as in St. George, was to Young by temple work was and for Young. For the first time in more than three decades, the Saints again had a temple. the in Young wrote, work is being to in the Temple The of the work for and in of the dead up before the Saints more than ever and they are increasingly the upon the of those who are called to be the upon in the last kept of many ordinances were performed each day in the temple. The of ordinances each day more than individual They were to Young and his that they were building the of God both here and in the spirit Young's work and church temple work needed by both women and Like other the women of the Young family found significance in temple For the two decades, Snow, Young's had temple work in the Endowment Lucy Bigelow Young, by took on the in the St. George Temple. On Lucy and Wilford Woodruff both in to perform the temple a for Lucy told the St. George was in the of being by them with as all would be by those who could not do the work for themselves. to live to of in Young, another of Young's wives, took place as both and in temple work. had also been involved in the for the St. George temple, than to to for the temple from where the were Young worked in the temples in St. George, and Salt presiding over the temple Young also continued to the work of the throughout the world from St. George, even while his and others took of many of the in Salt Lake passed and St. George and Salt Lake City, Young's and his on a of and also continued to hope for the Saints’ in another of his Word of to his wife Young, in his years, Young to upon the people the of both in and When he up a list of to the spiritual of Saints in the St. George the Word of Wisdom had the for Word of Wisdom on But now, members and the Word of Wisdom according to the Spirit and the first time since the great Young a place than Salt Lake City for perform a temple this time of the Young the Saints in that were in St. George, so most Saints in should not the to come to the dedication and But the leaders and many of Young's own family the to temple another of to prepare for the final dedication. by Young did physical and the pain in Young's feet continued to him as did his But Young in to he did not from pain as he had in the Saints’ ideals and their was ever present for Young. The Saints who had so to build the St. George temple to the of then as the of tobacco while the temple and But Young's final in St. George were The Saints had constructed a temple where they and their deceased ancestors and friends could the ordinances of was a moment of eternal significance to be Young had this Temple and the of the A great joy and had been in the spirit world on of the performed by the for the dedication of the St. George temple and the of and sealings of to for the deceased the Young's in that Saints to the St. George temple to perform proxy ordinances for their deceased family and began a by which temple became a crucial of for the Latter-day on the of the Young told temple “we had work since “I it to be the work that I have ever
INDONESIA Kemajuan teknologi digital mendorong hadirnya bentuk baru dari praktik wakaf, salah satunya melalui aset Non-Fungiable Token (NFT). Jika sebelumnya wakaf hanya dikenal dalam bentuk konvesional seperti tanah, bangunan, maupun uang, kini mulia berkembang ke arah aset digital yang memiliki nilai ekonomi. Hal ini menimbulkan pertanyaan terkait keabsahan wakaf NFT dalam hukum Islam, khususnya jika ditinjau dengan kerangka Maqashid Syariah yang berorientasi pada tercapainya kemaslahatan bagi umat. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan pendekatan kualitatif melalui penelitian lapangan di Badan Wakaf Indonesia (BWI) Kota Malang. Data diperoleh dari hasil wawancara dengan pihak terkait serta dokumentasi yang mendukung. Analisis berfokus pada bagaimana padangan BWI mengenai penggunaan NFT sebagai Objek wakaf produktif, sekaligus menilai kesesuaiannya dengan prinsip-prinsip syariah. Temuan penelitian menunjukan bahwa BWI Kota Malang belum memiliki aturan khusus mengenai wakaf NFT. Meski demikian, NFT tetap berpotensi dijadikan objek wakaf sepanjang memenuhi rukun dan syarat wakaf, serta dapat dianalogikan dengan wakaf saham atau wakaf uang. Dalam perspektif Maqashid Syariah, wakaf NFT dapat dipandan sebagai bagian dari maslahah ‘ammah karena sejalan dengan tujuan menjaga agama, jiwa, akal, harta, dan keturunan. Dengan demikian, wakaf NFT berpeluang menjadi instrumen baru yang bermanfaat dan berkelanjutan bagi masyarakat. ENGLISH The advancement of digital technology has introduced new opportunities in the practice of waqf, one of which is through Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Traditionally, waqf has been associated with conventional assets such as land, buildings, or cash. However, in today’s context, digital assets with economic value are also considered potential objects of waqf. This development raises significant questions regarding the validity of NFT-based waqf in Islamic law, particularly when examined through the framework of Maqashid al-Shariah, which emphasizes the realization of public benefit (maslahah). This research employs a qualitative approach through field study at the Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI) Malang Branch. Data were collected from interviews with BWI representatives and supporting documentation. The analysis focuses on the institution’s perspective regarding the possibility of NFTs being classified as productive waqf assets, as well as their alignment with sharia principles. The findings reveal that BWI Malang has not yet issued specific regulations regarding NFT-based waqf. Nevertheless, NFTs may potentially serve as waqf objects provided they fulfill the essential pillars and conditions of waqf and can be analogized to cash waqf or share waqf. From the perspective of Maqashid al-Shariah, NFT-based waqf can be categorized as a form of maslahah ‘ammah (public interest), as it aligns with the objectives of preserving religion, life, intellect, wealth, and lineage. Therefore, NFT waqf holds the potential to become an innovative instrument that is both beneficial and sustainable for society. ARABIC التقدم في التكنولوجيا الرقمية دفع لظهور اشكال جديدة لممارسة الوقف، ومنها الوقف من خلال الاصول غير القابلة للاستبدال (NFT). في حين ان الوقف كان معروفا في السابق بالاشكال التقليدية مثل الارض والمباني او النقد، الا انه يتجه الآن نحو الاصول الرقمية ذات القيمة الاقتصادية. هذا يثير تساؤلات حول مشروعية وقف NFT في الفقه الاسلامي، خاصة اذا ما تم النظر اليه من منظور مقاصد الشريعة الذي يهدف الى تحقيق المصالح العامة للامة. تم اجراء هذا البحث بمنهج كيفي من خلال الدراسة الميدانية في الهيئة الاندونيسية للاوقاف (BWI) بمدينة مالانج. تم الحصول على البيانات من المقابلات مع الاطراف المعنية والوثائق الداعمة. يركز التحليل على نظرة الهيئة حول استخدام NFT كأصل للوقف الانتاجي، وتقييم مدى توافقه مع المبادئ الشرعية. اظهرت نتائج البحث ان الهيئة الاندونيسية للاوقاف بمدينة مالانج لا تملك لوائح خاصة بوقف. NFT ومع ذلك، يظل NFTقابلا لان يكون محلا للوقف طالما انه يستوفي اركان وشروط الوقف، ويمكن قياسه على وقف الاسهم او وقف النقود. من منظور مقاصد الشريعة، يمكن اعتبار وقف NFT جزءا من المصلحة العامة لانه يتماشى مع اهداف حفظ الدين والنفس والعقل والمال والنسل. بالتالي، لدى وقفNFT فرصة ليصبح اداة جديدة ومفيدة ومستدامة للمجتمع.
Sharmila Mary Joseph, Baseera A, Mayank Sharma, Prajal Mishra · 6 authors
This study presents an innovative framework integrating machine learning algorithms to enhance the operational efficacy of blockchain-based decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). By leveraging reinforcement learning, deep Q-networks, natural language processing (NLP), and genetic algorithms, the framework addresses core challenges in governance automation, decision optimization, and adaptive resource management within DAOs. The proposed method demonstrates superior performance across critical metrics such as accuracy, scalability, convergence speed, and energy efficiency. Additionally, domain-specific visualizations, such as real-time Q-value convergence and NLP-enhanced proposal analysis, are introduced to ensure interpretability and transparency. This multidisciplinary approach not only overcomes inherent limitations in traditional DAO structures but also introduces a scalable, intelligent, and fair governance model capable of dynamic adaptation in decentralized environments.
Even in this day and age, when digital technologies are becoming more and more prevalent, it is still extremely important for democratic systems to maintain the honesty and openness of their voting procedures. This article introduces NextGenVote, a decentralised online voting platform developed to address the security, transparency, and confidence issues traditional electronic voting systems face. Automation of election operations, including voter registration, candidate administration, ballot casting, and result computation, is achieved through smart contracts written in the Solidity programming language. The system is built on the Ethereum blockchain. MetaMask is a React-based frontend that uses Web3.js to connect to the blockchain. MetaMask is responsible for ensuring that user authentication and transaction signatures are secure. Therefore, to prevent unauthorised manipulation, the platform utilises a role-based access control approach that clearly distinguishes between administrative capabilities and voter credentials. NextGenVote assures that election results are tamper-proof, traceable, and auditable. It was deployed and tested in a local blockchain environment powered by Ganache. The system provides a solid foundation for scalable, secure, and transparent digital elections by eliminating centralised intermediaries and relying solely on processes executed on the blockchain.
With the billions of devices that are connected in 5G-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) networks, industries have been revolutionized, due to high-speed data transmission, ultra-low latency as well as large scale connectivity that 5g offers. Yet, the growing number of IoT devices also creates serious security and privacy issues like unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyber-attacks. Security frameworks are dependent, centralized, and they cannot establish trust, scalability, and resilience against attack. With its potential to offer decentralized validation, secure authentication, and tamper-proof data storage, blockchain technology has therefore emerged as a promising solution to these concerns. Through this work, we investigate the combination of blockchain-based validation mechanisms with $\mathbf{5 G}$ Internet of Things networks to allow more secure, private, and integritypreserving networks. This usually involves lightweight consensus mechanisms like Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) to enhance transaction efficiency while lowering energy consumption. Edge computing along with blockchain also helps in processing of data at the spot while waiting to be encoded which saves time and decrease latency of IoT applications. Beyond that, AI-driven security models provide higher accuracy in threat detection and anomaly identification in $\mathbf{5 G}$ IoT networks available in blockchain. However, notwithstanding the benefits, issues such as privacy, scalability, regulatory compliance, and computational overhead are still emergent areas of research. In contrast, on the other hand, enhancing the security frameworks of $\mathbf{5 G ~} \mathbf{~ I o T}$ ecosystems built on blockchain through post-quantum cryptography, federated learning, and self-sovereign identity management will lay a crucial role in the developments of computer-based solutions coming in the future. Upon learning the state-of-the-art blockchain validation methods and their contributions to the Internet of Things security, we analyze and evaluate the future works and threats on the secure 5G Internet of Things in this study.
Abstract This essay argues that social media document (rather than fuel) the decline of political democracy while helping revive organizational democracy, including through ‘decentralized autonomous organizations’ (DAOs). Yet, despite giving everyone a voice and the ability to organize across borders, social media could over‐concentrate power if, in the future, a few large but siloed platforms ended up shrinking viewpoint diversity – the oxygen of democracy. How can we curb corporate platform concentration without dulling democracy? Due to trade‐offs in platform design, no single service can deliver free speech, free usage, and safe usage simultaneously. Fortunately, this ‘trilemma’ can be transcended at the industry level with an interoperability mandate that fosters user multihoming and lets various platforms provide different bundles of democratic benefits. Email works across service providers, and so can social media. Interoperability thus represents a viable answer based on six advantages: practical feasibility; competition on merit; faster complementor innovation; jurisdictional flexibility; unlocking network effects between, rather than just within platforms; and alignment with democratic values. Platform interoperability can make social media social again and future‐proof democracy. This proposal is a clarion call for blaming the Internet a little less for democracy’s problems and instead leveraging its infrastructure strategically to address them.
Organ transplantation is life-saving but faces major ethical, logistical, and trust-related challenges. Centralized organ donation workflows are susceptible to delays, data tampering, and opaque allocation decisions. We present a full-stack Blockchain-Based Organ Donation Management System that integrates Ethereum smart contracts to deliver immutable audit trails and transparent allocation events while keeping sensitive clinical data encrypted off-chain. The prototype couples a React + Vite frontend with a Flask backend (PostgreSQL, Web3.py) and minimal on-chain logic in Solidity. Evaluation on a private Ethereum testbed shows correct matching, low end-to-end latency on the local network, and acceptable gas usage when heavy computation is performed off-chain. The design is extensible to Layer-2 scaling and privacy-preserving primitives for real-world deployment.