In any registration process, it is a hassle to always bring physical documents. Not only that, the process is elongated if they are lost, and will contribute to identity theft if unauthorized persons have access to those documents. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to generate a decentralized system, similar to the concept of blockchain, to allow registered persons to access user’s personal records. To further elaborate, this system is designed to be used by three consumers, which are: user, authority, and third-party (requester). Nowadays, majority of systems are susceptible to massive data breaches. However, some researches have theorized that blockchain technology may solve this problem, such as one that uses a real-world example, Aadhaar. In conclusion, this project enhances that the area of blockchain identity is vital in helping society gain control of their personal details. Since most of researches are focused on storage system of businesses using blockchain, personal identities of the people should be digitized on the blockchain as well. An identity verification system that is entirely owned by the individual will increase trust that the data is genuine and reliable.
BACKGROUND: The rapid development of genetic and genomic technologies, such as next-generation sequencing and genome editing, has made disease treatment much more precise and effective. The technologies' value can only be realized by the aggregation and analysis of people's genomic and health data. However, the collection and sharing of genomic data has many obstacles, including low data quality, information islands, tampering distortions, missing records, leaking of private data, and gray data transactions. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to prove that emerging blockchain technology provides a solution for the protection and management of sensitive personal genomic data because of its decentralization, traceability, encryption algorithms, and antitampering features. METHODS: This paper describes the case of a blockchain-based genomic big data platform, LifeCODE.ai, to illustrate the means by which blockchain enables the storage and management of genomic data from the perspectives of data ownership, data sharing, and data security. RESULTS: Blockchain opens up new avenues for dealing with data ownership, data sharing, and data security issues in genomic big data platforms and realizes the psychological empowerment of individuals in the platform. CONCLUSIONS: The blockchain platform provides new possibilities for the management and security of genetic data and can help realize the psychological empowerment of individuals in the process, and consequently, the effects of data self-governance, incentive-sharing, and security improvement can be achieved. However, there are still some problems in the blockchain that have not been solved, and which require continuous in-depth research and innovation in the future.
Η ιδέα όπου υλοποιείται σε αυτή την εργασία, είναι η δημιουργία ενός μοντέλου Μηχανικής Μάθησης, το οποίο αξιοποιεί παρελθοντικές τιμές του Bitcoin, δεδομένα τάσεων της Google και χαρακτηριστικά, τα οποία δημιουργήθηκαν με εξόρυξη γνώσης απο tweets σχετικά με το Bitcoin. Σκοπός αυτής της μελέτης είναι η πρόβλεψη των μελλοντικών τιμών του Bitcoin. Για το σκοπό αυτό, συγκρίνεται ένα Βαθύ Νευρωνικό Δίκτυο και συγκεκριμένα ένα δίκτυο με στρώματα LSTM, ένα μοντέλο Παλινδρόμησης Ενίσχυσης Κλίσης και μοντέλο XGBoost. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, το Βαθύ Νευρωνικό Δίκτυο είχε καλύτερη απόδοση, με ρίζα μέσου τετραγωνικού σφάλματος 0.999 % στα δεδομένα ελέγχου.
BACKGROUND: In recent years, researchers have made significant efforts in advancing blockchain technology. This technology, with distinct features of decentralization and security, can be applied to many fields. In areas of health data and resource sharing, applications of blockchain technology are also emerging. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we propose a cloud health resource-sharing model based on consensus-oriented blockchain technology and have developed a simulation study on breast tumor diagnosis. METHODS: The proposed platform is built on a consortium or federated blockchain that possesses features of both centralization and decentralization. The consensus mechanisms generate operating standards for the proposed model. Open source Ethereum code is employed to provide the blockchain environment. Proof of Authority is selected as the consensus algorithm of block generation. RESULTS: Based on the proposed model, a simulation case study for breast tumor classification is constructed. The simulation includes 9893 service requests from 100 users; 22 service providers are equipped with 22 different classification methods. Each request is fulfilled by a service provider recommended by the weighted k-nearest neighbors (KNN) algorithm. The majority of service requests are handled by 9 providers, and provider service evaluation scores tend to stabilize. Also, user priority on KNN weights significantly affects the system operation outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed model is feasible based on the simulation case study for the cloud service of breast tumor diagnosis and has the potential to be applied to other applications.
Stefanos Leonardos, Daniel Reijsbergen, Georgios Piliouras
The rapid evolution of blockchain technology has brought together stakeholders from fundamentally different backgrounds. The result is a diverse ecosystem, as exemplified by the development of a wide range of different blockchain protocols. This raises questions for decision and policy makers: How do different protocols compare? What are their trade-offs? Existing efforts to survey the area reveal a fragmented terminology and the lack of a unified framework to reason about the properties of blockchain protocols. In this paper, we work towards bridging this gap. We present a five-dimensional design space with a modular structure in which protocols can be compared and understood. Based on these five axes -- Optimality, Stability, Efficiency, Robustness and Persistence -- we organize the properties of existing protocols in subcategories of increasing granularity. The result is a dynamic scheme -- termed the PREStO framework -- which aids the interaction between stakeholders of different backgrounds, including managers and investors, and which enables systematic reasoning about blockchain protocols. We illustrate its value by comparing existing protocols and identifying research challenges, hence making a first step towards understanding the blockchain ecosystem through a more comprehensive lens.
Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping the incumbent industry to smart industry featured with data-driven decision-making. However, intrinsic features of IoT result in a number of challenges, such as decentralization, poor interoperability, privacy, and security vulnerabilities. Blockchain technology brings the opportunities in addressing the challenges of IoT. In this paper, we investigate the integration of blockchain technology with IoT. We name such synthesis of blockchain and IoT as blockchain of things (BCoT). This paper presents an in-depth survey of BCoT and discusses the insights of this new paradigm. In particular, we first briefly introduce IoT and discuss the challenges of IoT. Then, we give an overview of blockchain technology. We next concentrate on introducing the convergence of blockchain and IoT and presenting the proposal of BCoT architecture. We further discuss the issues about using blockchain for fifth generation beyond in IoT as well as industrial applications of BCoT. Finally, we outline the open research directions in this promising area.
The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review of blockchain hardware acceleration. Blockchain technology has achieved significant attention in recent years particularly in the area of cryptocurrency however it is gaining popularity in other applications such as supply chain management and e-government. Based on a structured, systematic review of the relevant literature, we present a classification of the primary areas in blockchain technology that make use of heterogeneous hardware for accelerating certain blockchain functions. Based on these findings, we identify various research gaps and future exploratory directions that are anticipated to be of significant value both for academics and industry practitioners.
Blockchain technology, and more specifically Bitcoin (one of its foremost applications), have been receiving increasing attention in the scientific community. The first publications with Bitcoin as a topic, can be traced back to 2012. In spite of this short time span, the production magnitude (1162 papers) makes it necessary to make a bibliometric study in order to observe research clusters, emerging topics, and leading scholars. Our paper is aimed at studying the scientific production only around bitcoin, excluding other blockchain applications. Thus, we restricted our search to papers indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection, whose topic is "bitcoin". This database is suitable for such diverse disciplines such as economics, engineering, mathematics, and computer science. This bibliometric study draws the landscape of the current state and trends of Bitcoin-related research in different scientific disciplines.
As a decentralized distributed ledger technology,the main function of blockchain is to reach a consensus among untrusted nodes.In the blockchain,a suitable consensus mechanism can improve the blockchain performance and guarantee transaction data security.This paper proposes a new solution strategy for the “nothing at stake” problem in the Proof of Stakes(PoS).This strategy allows voting nodes to send agreement disagreement votes.If the node votes for a fork and the fork wins,the node will gain the profit.Otherwise,if the node votes against a fork and the fork fails,the node will also gain the profit.A smart contract is deployed on the Ethereum platform to validate the voting strategy.Results show that the proposed strategy can run normally and the nodes finally reach consensus.
Since the inception of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology have attracted an increasing interest from both academia and industry. Among various core components, consensus protocol is the defining technology behind the security and performance of blockchain. From incremental modifications of Nakamoto consensus protocol to innovative alternative consensus mechanisms, many consensus protocols have been proposed to improve the performance of the blockchain network itself or to accommodate other specific application needs. In this survey, we present a comprehensive review and analysis on the state-of-the-art blockchain consensus protocols. To facilitate the discussion of our analysis, we first introduce the key definitions and relevant results in the classic theory of fault tolerance which help to lay the foundation for further discussion. We identify five core components of a blockchain consensus protocol, namely, block proposal, block validation, information propagation, block finalization, and incentive mechanism. A wide spectrum of blockchain consensus protocols are then carefully reviewed accompanied by algorithmic abstractions and vulnerability analyses. The surveyed consensus protocols are analyzed using the five-component framework and compared with respect to different performance metrics. These analyses and comparisons provide us new insights in the fundamental differences of various proposals in terms of their suitable application scenarios, key assumptions, expected fault tolerance, scalability, drawbacks and trade-offs. We believe this survey will provide blockchain developers and researchers a comprehensive view on the state-of-the-art consensus protocols and facilitate the process of designing future protocols.
Cryptocurrencies have recently gained a lot of attention because their high security and easy transaction. Among the current cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is the most well-known one. Application-specific ICs (ASICs) have been developed in order to deliver high throughput for Bitcoin mining. However, power dissipation is an important issue considering it causes increased mining cost and creates excessive heat. This paper presents three optimization techniques in the micro-architecture level for Bitcoin mining: deep pipelining, speculative computation, and approximate addition. The computations for Bitcoin mining are dominated by SHA-256, which can be realized by two-way 32-stage pipelines. Deep pipelining reduces the critical-path delay, resulting in less power due to architecture transformation and transistor sizing. The iterations of SHA-256 can be early terminated by leveraging speculative computation to prevent unnecessary switches. Approximate addition is adopted to reduce the critical-path delay of the compressor and expander at the cost of negligible precision loss. From the synthesis estimates at a 40-nm technology node, an overall 59.3% power reduction is achieved by applying these three techniques.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation
Odhran O’Donoghue, Anuraag A Vazirani, David Brindley, Edward Meinert
BACKGROUND: A blockchain is a list of records that uses cryptography to make stored data immutable; their use has recently been proposed for electronic medical record (EMR) systems. This paper details a systematic review of trade-offs in blockchain technologies that are relevant to EMRs. Trade-offs are defined as "a compromise between two desirable but incompatible features." OBJECTIVE: This review's primary research question was: "What are the trade-offs involved in different blockchain designs that are relevant to the creation of blockchain-based electronic medical records systems?" METHODS: Seven databases were systematically searched for relevant articles using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Papers published from January 1, 2017 to June 15, 2018 were selected. Quality assessments of papers were performed using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies-of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool and the Critical Assessment Skills Programme (CASP) tool. Database searches identified 2885 articles, of which 15 were ultimately included for analysis. RESULTS: A total of 17 trade-offs were identified impacting the design, development, and implementation of blockchain systems; these trade-offs are organized into themes, including business, application, data, and technology architecture. CONCLUSIONS: The key findings concluded the following: (1) multiple trade-offs can be managed adaptively to improve EMR utility; (2) multiple trade-offs involve improving the security of blockchain systems at the cost of other features, meaning EMR efficacy highly depends on data protection standards; and (3) multiple trade-offs result in improved blockchain scalability. Consideration of these trade-offs will be important to the specific environment in which electronic medical records are being developed. This review also uses its findings to suggest useful design choices for a hypothetical National Health Service blockchain. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/10994.
This thesis work is aimed at developing understanding of the hash functions and algorithms being used in blockchain technologies Bitcoin in comparison to Ethereum and private blockchain hash functions. This study attempts to answer one fundamental research question: “What considerations are important in assessing blockchain cryptographic security, with an emphasis on hash functions”. \n \nThe study was carried out qualitatively using a desk research approach and combining this approach with using two public blockchains-based cryptocurrencies; Ethereum and Bitcoin as case studies. The research aims to provide a holistic view of blockchain cryptographic security comparing Bitcoin and Ethereum as use cases, and thus providing a consolidated document which students studying cryptography can access to obtain a better understanding of what is involved in blockchain security. From an academic perspective, the research aims at providing a model which can be used in assessing what is important to consider in the cryptographic security of blockchains. \n \nThree main categories of factors considered were presented in the proposed model which were strategical factors, complexity attributes and technical drivers. This results in a base crucial metrics such as absence of secret seeds, efficiency of verification, preimage collision resistance, fixed output size, low collision probability, and even distribution of preimages in output.
Mohammad Maroufi, Reza Abdolee, Behzad Mozaffari Tazekand
The Internet of Things (IoT) technology will soon become an integral part of our daily lives to facilitate the control and monitoring of processes and objects and revolutionize the ways that human interacts with the physical world. For all features of IoT to become fully functional in practice, there are several obstacles on the way to be surmounted and critical challenges to be addressed. These include, but are not limited to cybersecurity, data privacy, energy consumption, and scalability. The Blockchain decentralized nature and its multi-faceted procedures offer a useful mechanism to tackle several of these IoT challenges. However, applying the Blockchain protocols to IoT without considering their tremendous computational loads, delays, and bandwidth overhead can let to a new set of problems. This review evaluates some of the main challenges we face in the integration of Blockchain and IoT technologies and provides insights and high-level solutions that can potentially handle the shortcomings and constraints of both IoT and Blockchain technologies.
Blockchain technology has been applied in many fields to improve the management and data security of the information systems. In this paper, we describe the applications of blockchain technology in Electric Management Information System. First, the components and structure of the blockchain framework are introduced. Then the blockchain based authentication application is studied to integrate with existing IT infrastructure. Finally, the benefit and limitations of the proposed integrated framework are analyzed. As industrial application research, this paper could give a reference example for the applications of blockchain in the data management system.
With the rise of Bitcoin, the blockchain technology as its core technology has received wide attention from all walks of life. Blockchain technology demonstrates its potential for audit applications by virtue of decentralization, transparency, and data tampering. This paper starts from the characteristics of blockchain technology and discusses the application value of blockchain in audit. Through the comparative study on the blockchain audit application of the international "big four" firms and Chinese firms, the impact of blockchain audit on the firm's business and the working methods of auditors is discussed. Based on this, relevant suggestions are put forward for the future development of blockchain audit.
Juan Arturo Castañeda-Ayarza, Cíntia Neves, André Frazão Teixeira
Digital currencies represent a new technological and monetary dynamics in the development of information technologies and internet. Bitcoin, a virtual currency that emerged in 2008 as a computer code, is characterized by being free of ties to monetary authorities and by not having nationality. The growing interest in Bitcoin is also found in science. Thus, our objective was to map the scientific knowledge about Bitcoin and Blockchain technology. Through bibliographic research in two databases, Science Direct and Scielo, 432 publications were mapped between 2008 and 2018. Out of these, 80% happened between 2016 and 2018, highlighting the rapid growth of scientific production. The main research topics are related to the Bitcoin market, the safety and efficiency of Blockchain technology, the illegal market, as well as the potential applications in areas such as energy, health, shared economy, Big Data and Internet of Things.
With the introduction of Bitcoin back in 2008, the cryptocurrency market has evolved erratically and at unprecedented speed. There are approximately 2054 mineable cryptocurrencies as of October 2019 and the cryptocurrencies industry is estimated with a total market capitalization approximately about $219 billion USD in September 2019. Due to the volatility of the cryptocurrency market, it comes with uncertainty for the people who are trying to invest or using them as actual currency. Some of the factors affecting the value of cryptocurrency include the supply and demand of the currency, popularity of the cryptocurrency, political adaptation and restrictions, and speculations of investors. \nThe primary objective of this project is to perform sentiment analysis on the news to determine whether the sentiment of news and events will affect the price of the cryptocurrencies. The aim of this project is to create a system is developed that performs the three tasks: the collection of price time series for multiple cryptocurrencies and information about events and news related to cryptocurrencies, execution of sentiment analysis on the news to determine if the news is positive or negative with respect to the price action of cryptocurrency, last but not least, analysis of sentiment to predict future price projections. \nThe project findings show that there exist certain forms of correlation between news and events and the price of cryptocurrencies. It also shows that extremely positive or negative news could be used to project a potential surge or sudden drop in price. \nRecommendations for future enhancement work or potential research would be to improve the accuracy of the sentiment analysis value by enhancing the classifier.
The blockchain represented by Bitcoin, the distributed ledger system can prevent double spending effectively and other issues. But it has caused the concentration of bitcoin mining power, which completely contradicts the essential feature of the complete decentralization of the blockchain. In the blockchain system, transaction data information among users is transparently stored on the chain, and each participant can obtain a complete data backup. These transaction data are stored in an open and transparent manner on each node of the entire network, although it can prevent data forgery and tampering, it brings data privacy problems. In this paper, we propose a multi-level reward structure for the problem of centralized power calculation in the mining pool. This structure can make the miners work alone to prove the workload and obtain the reward through their own calculation power, in order to weaken the role of the mining pool. At the same time, for the data privacy security problem in the bitcoin trading system, we have improved the bitcoin puzzle, and proposed a puzzle scheme based on non-interactive zero-knowledge proof to ensure data transaction security.
Privacy is one of the major challenges which blockchain systems face today as there \nis a requirement to publish all transactions of each block in each node and all \ninformation is exposed to public scrutiny. Although there are privacy-related libraries \navailable on blockchain which distributed applications can use, there are currently no \napplications which use these libraries as the designed applications are extremely \nbasic. \nIn this paper, we introduce a decentralized application which is a proof-of-concept \nutilising zero-knowledge proofs hiding the birth date of the user while retaining the \nability to prove that the user is above a to-be-determined age. \nThe decentralized application was designed through the analysis of the capabilities of \nthe libraries as well as the investigation of potential uses which zero-knowledge \nproof can provide in scenarios where a user might desire a higher level of privacy. \nTesting of this proof-of-concept proved that it is highly feasible in terms of financial \nand temporal cost and these are comparable to that of current alternatives. \nIn the future, this proof-of-concept can be extended to other decentralized \napplication, other uses and even other blockchains as this implementation was \ndesigned with extensibility and potential blockchain agnosticism in mind.