Blockchain Papers

Niketa Yadav, Gaurav Indra

With the emergence of quantum computing, traditional cryptographic methods used in blockchain systems face increasing risk. One such area of concern is the Layer-2 protocols zk-Rollups designed to improve scalability and privacy in platforms like Ethereum, which are heavily dependent on classical zero-knowledge proofs such as zk-SNARKs and zk-STARKs. These systems may be compromised by quantum algorithms. To address this, we propose a quantum-secure zk-Rollup model using Quantum Zero-Knowledge Proofs (QZKPs), implemented with IBM’s Qiskit simulator. The protocol uses quantum features like superposition and random basis selection to verify transactions without leaking private data. Simulation results confirm key properties: valid proofs are reliably accepted, while invalid ones are rejected. This demonstrates both the feasibility and future relevance of integrating QZKPs into blockchain systems for post-quantum security.

Haixing Li, Yutong Zhou, Chi Zhang, Lingbo Wei · 5 authors

Traditional digital identity models suffer from certain vulnerabilities in terms of identity reusability and privacy, as well as a single point of failure. The emergence of the blockchainbased self-sovereign identity model holds promise for addressing these issues in traditional digital identity models. However, existing schemes not only fail to cover privacy preservation throughout the entire lifecycle of credential issuance, verification, and revocation but also present security and efficiency concerns in key rotation. In this paper, we propose a novel blockchain-based self-sovereign identity system and redesign its credential scheme and key rotation mechanism. By leveraging the PS signature and zero-knowledge proof, our scheme preserves the privacy of holders’ private attributes when issuing and verifying credentials. Additionally, with the cryptographic accumulator, our scheme does not reveal any issued or revoked credentials. Furthermore, we propose a secure and efficient key rotation mechanism based on pre-generated key chains, which enables secure and efficient key rotation without relying on a timelock. Finally, we provide a security analysis and performance evaluation, demonstrating the security and practicality of our scheme.

Akhileshwar Pathak

Democratic institutions increasingly rely on verifiable digital trust to enable fair participation and evidence-based decisions. Truvry is a decentralized protocol that converts behaviour-based evidence (usage patterns, transaction integrity, peer attestations) into portable cryptographic proofs that remain independent of any single platform or identifier, allowing individuals to transfer trust capital across domains while preserving privacy. The current prototype is zero-knowledge–compatible; in this version we use hashed proof anchoring and field-level redaction (no zk-SNARK module is deployed), with configurable smart-contract verifiers. By decoupling trust from identity, Truvry widens citizen inclusion, mitigates gatekeeping bias, and supplies auditable inputs for AI-mediated governance. In prototype tests (n=112), end-to-end proof issuance averaged 3.7 s (fastest local 1.4 s), verifier parse+check averaged 1.8 s, and the current minimum anonymization entropy is 8.9 bits; gas costs for optional on-chain anchoring remained below US$0.02. All results are based on simulated user streams; a production pilot is planned.

Shaofeng Li, Tianci Wang, Meng Hao, Zhen Ling

Finetuning Large Language Models (LLMs) is a highly effective way to improve their performance on the specific domains that need expertise knowledge. However, fine-tuning very large models is prohibitively expensive. A trending solution is to train a much smaller adapter, dubbed LoRA, serving as a “plugin” to the model. However, in an untrusted distributed edge computing environment, when a user of an open-source base model wishes to utilize LoRA weights provided by external contributors, it is crucial to ensure that the LoRA weights are correctly matched with the intended base model and that the LoRA computation process is executed correctly. In this paper, we present ZK-EDGELORA, an efficient zero-knowledge (ZK) protocol that allows the LLM adapter (LoRA, the prover) to convince the base LLM model (the verifier) of its computing pro- cess, without revealing any information apart from the fact that the LoRA computing process is true. In particular, by leveraging VOLE-based “commit-and-prove” style ZK protocol, our solution enables efficient batch verification of matrix operations while preserving privacy. The proposed ZK-EDGELORA can safely and efficiently validate the correctness of each LoRA module within 0.1 to 2.8 seconds, depending on the weight size of the LoRA layer, when applied to real-world medical adapters from HuggingFace. The protocol establishes a scalable trust framework for distributed LLM deployments, bridging the gap between performance and security in modular AI ecosystems.

Dan Ivanov, Tristan Freiberg, Shahabi, Shirin, Jonathan Gold · 5 authors

DSperse is a modular framework for distributed machine learning inference with strategic cryptographic verification. Operating within the emerging paradigm of distributed zero-knowledge machine learning, DSperse avoids the high cost and rigidity of full-model circuitization by enabling targeted verification of strategically chosen subcomputations. These verifiable segments, or "slices", may cover part or all of the inference pipeline, with global consistency enforced through audit, replication, or economic incentives. This architecture supports a pragmatic form of trust minimization, localizing zero-knowledge proofs to the components where they provide the greatest value. We evaluate DSperse using multiple proving systems and report empirical results on memory usage, runtime, and circuit behavior under sliced and unsliced configurations. By allowing proof boundaries to align flexibly with the model's logical structure, DSperse supports scalable, targeted verification strategies suited to diverse deployment needs.

Shraiyash Pandey, Bharat Bhushan

Security vulnerabilities of smart contracts are critically important to secure DApps. As they were traditionally constructed, contract structures do not provide for adaptive security measures that protect against unauthorized access, and malicious exploitation. In this paper, we present a novel smart contract security algorithm for Escrow Smart Contract Operations which takes advantage of the time and scores the risks and provides optional multi signature confirmation. Additionally, we devise a way to isolate the security layer from the core contract logic, making updates of it simpler and protection from new threats more adaptable. To confirm that these claims are robust, we provide a synthetic dataset and frameworks to that can simulate various scenarios of transactions, thereby giving sufficient coverage in terms of the evaluation of security. We show through our results that the security put in around these adaptive security mechanisms created significant reduction in unauthorized access, better anomaly detection and better overall security resilience and this is another reason why adaptive security mechanisms should be put around smart contracts.

Sathish Kumar A P, K. Saravanan, T Monica, Nithish Kumar. K

The logistics industry faces increasing demands for secure, transparent, and efficient handling of shipment documents and compliance data across the globe. This work presents a blockchain-based architecture integrated with a decentralized private IPFS cluster storage system to ensure dynamic, privacy-preserved, tamper-proof document exchange and real time tracing of the related transactions across supply chain stakeholders. By leveraging Ethereum based smart contract, the system facilitates shipment validations, and delivery confirmations without intermediaries, while the AES encrypted documents are stored off-chain using IPFS to reduce blockchain bloat and enhance scalability. Users joining the platform automatically contribute to the storage network by hosting IPFS nodes, ensuring decentralized participation. The inclusion of end-to-end encryption using Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) strengthens data authenticity and confidentiality during transmission. The stakeholders are allowed to connect and disconnect from the network dynamically without any centralized authority in a plug and play fashion. The system ensures immutable recordkeeping, real-time access to critical data, and improved trust among entities such as shippers, carriers, customs, and financial institutions. This approach addresses key challenges such as data traceability, secure access, and compliance reporting, offering a robust, scalable, and future-ready solution for modern logistics and cross-border trade documentation. By uniting blockchain and decentralized storage, the architecture promotes operational resilience, auditability, and seamless collaboration across the global supply chain. The work is evaluated using Ethereum based Sepolia testnet to test its integrity and standard performance metrics which demonstrates the effectiveness of the implementation.

Manideep Thotakura

This work presents a cryptographic protocol for secure multi-party verification that achieves com putational privacy while maintaining exceptional computational efficiency. The proposed Position Based Commitment Protocol (PBCP) introduces a position-dependent nonce mechanism combined with cyclic verification architecture, enabling se cure computation over private inputs without re vealing individual parameters. Unlike existing commitment schemes that require complex cryp tographic assumptions, computationally expensive zero-knowledge proofs, or extensive public key in frastructure, Fundamental innovation lies in adapt ing physical laws of fluid dynamics to create nat ural mathematical relationships where each verifi cation equation contains multiple unknowns, mak ing parameter extraction computationally infeasible while preserving verification integrity. The proto col preliminary analysis suggests O(n) communica tion complexity with O(n2) verification complexity, providing substantial improvements over traditional Byzantine Agreement protocols that require O(n3) message exchanges. Comprehensive security analysis reveals robust resistance against statistical attacks with complexity O(R3) where R represents the pa rameter range, complete immunity to timing attacks through blind submission mechanisms, and resilience against collusion attacks involving up to n/2 − 1 ad versarial parties. The protocol’s unique cyclic neigh bor verification creates an interdependent validation network that prevents individual parameter extrac tion while maintaining system-wide integrity through mathematical interdependence rather than crypto graphic assumptions.

Kohei Kawaguchi, Shunya Noda, Junpei Komiyama

Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies employ miners to sustain the system through algorithmic reward adjustments. We develop a stochastic model of the multicurrency mining market and identify conditions for stable transaction speeds. Bitcoin's algorithm requires hash supply elasticity $\le$ 1 for stability, while ASERT remains stable for any elasticity and can be interpreted as a form of stochastic gradient descent algorithm under a certain loss function. Interactions with other currencies can relax Bitcoin's stability requirements. Using a ``halving'' event, we estimate miners' hash supply elasticity and conduct counterfactual simulations. Our findings reveal Bitcoin's heavy reliance on low hash-supply elasticity and interactions with smaller cryptocurrencies, suggesting an algorithm upgrade is crucial for stability.

Xin Liu, Yong Wu

No abstract is available for this record.

Asma Ibrahim Alzaabi, Abid Mehmood

Cloud storage systems have become central to data-driven industries due to their flexibility and scalability. However, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of outsourced data remains a major concern, particularly in multi-tenant and dynamic cloud environments. This paper proposes a novel privacy-preserving framework that integrates Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), Pedersen Commitments, and bulk segmentation for efficient and scalable data integrity verification. Unlike traditional approaches, our framework enables Third-Party Auditors (TPAs) to verify cloud-stored data without exposing sensitive information. It is designed to support dynamic operations, detect insider and external threats proactively, and minimize computational overhead through segment-level auditing. Implementation and evaluation using Amazon S3 and DynamoDB demonstrate the framework’s practical viability, low communication cost, and robust tamper detection capabilities.

Ashutosh Kumar, Amrendra Singh Yadav, Rohit Kumar Sachan, Avadh Kishor · 6 authors

This paper presents a secure and privacy-preserving framework for Electronic Health Record (EHR) sharing using blockchain and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). The system enables patients to control access to their health data through smart contracts, ensuring that only verified users can access sensitive information. ZKPs authenticate users without revealing identities, preserving confidentiality. IPFS is used for off-chain storage, reducing on-chain costs and improving scalability. The proposed model supports dynamic access control, including permission granting, revocation, and automatic expiry. This approach enhances data integrity, verifiability, and privacy in decentralized healthcare environments.

Vimal Kumar, Rakesh Sharma, Ishan Aggarwal, Debjani Ghosh

Web3 technologies are fundamentally secured by classical cryptographic algorithms like the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and Secure Hash Algorithms (SHA). The advent of fault-tolerant quantum computers, however, poses a significant threat to these systems. Shor’s algorithm can break the asymmetric schemes that underpin user wallets and asset ownership, while Grover’s algorithm quadratically weakens the security of symmetric ciphers and hash functions. This paper presents an integrated simulation framework, built using Python and Qiskit, to demonstrate these quantum threats in a unified context. We implement simulated attacks against simplified, small-scale instances of RSA, ECDSA, AES, and SHA to model the structural feasibility of these quantum attacks. For Shor’s algorithm, we utilize a classical simulation of the quantum oracles for modular exponentiation and elliptic curve point addition, focusing on the viability of the overall quantum-classical workflow. For Grover’s algorithm, we use standard Qiskit circuit library implementations with simplified oracles. Our findings confirm the theoretical vulnerabilities—successfully factoring RSA-15, solving the ECDLP on a toy curve, and finding keys/preimages in 8-bit search spaces. More importantly, this work highlights the practical simulation challenges and immense resource requirements for breaking production-scale keys, reinforcing the critical need for the Web3 ecosystem to transition towards post-quantum cryptography.

Bora Buğra Sezer, Hasret Turkmen

No abstract is available for this record.

Evgeniya Ishchukova, Sergei Petrenko, A. Petrenko, Konstantin Gnidko · 5 authors

Today, blockchain technologies are a separate, rapidly developing area. With rapid development, they open up a number of scientific problems. One of these problems is the problem of reliability, which is primarily associated with the use of cryptographic primitives. The threat of the emergence of quantum computers is now widely discussed, in connection with which the direction of post-quantum cryptography is actively developing. Nevertheless, the most popular blockchain platforms (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum) use asymmetric cryptography based on elliptic curves. Here, cryptographic primitives for blockchain systems are divided into four groups according to their functionality: keyless, single-key, dual-key, and hybrid. The main attention in the work is paid to the most significant cryptographic primitives for blockchain systems: keyless and single-key. This manuscript discusses possible scenarios in which, during practical implementation, the mathematical foundations embedded in the algorithms for generating a digital signature and encrypting data using algorithms based on elliptic curves are violated. In this case, vulnerabilities arise that can lead to the compromise of a private key or a substitution of a digital signature. We consider cases of vulnerabilities in a blockchain system due to incorrect use of a cryptographic primitive, describe the problem, formulate the problem statement, and assess its complexity for each case. For each case, strict calculations of the maximum computational costs are given when the conditions of the case under consideration are met. Among other things, we present a new version of the encryption algorithm for data stored in blockchain systems or transmitted between blockchain systems using elliptic curves. This algorithm is not the main blockchain algorithm and is not included in the core of modern blockchain systems. This algorithm allows the use of the same keys that system users have in order to store sensitive user data in an open blockchain database in encrypted form. At the same time, possible vulnerabilities that may arise from incorrect implementation of this algorithm are considered. The scenarios formulated in the article can be used to test the reliability of both newly created blockchain platforms and to study long-existing ones.

S N Prajwalasimha, Dilip Kumar Jang Bahadur Saini, Nilesh Shelke, Amit Pimpalkar · 6 authors

Cyber-Physical Systems like smart grids, autonomous cars, and industrial IoT widely implement Federated Learning (FL) to provide distributed intelligence with privacy-protected data. Yet, the impending quantum threat makes conventional cryptographic methods in FL pipelines obsolete, exposing critical infrastructure to future security vulnerabilities. This paper presents Quantum-Resilient Federated Learning (QR-FL), a new framework integrating lattice-based post-quantum cryptography, light-weight zero-knowledge proofs, and trust-aware aggregation ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and quantum/classical attack resistance. Through comprehensive experimentation on real-world CPS datasets, QR-FL provides up to 48% enhanced adversarial robustness, 32% communication overhead savings, and 6.7% enhanced model accuracy compared to current state-of-the-art secure FL solutions. By achieving future-proof security with scalable federated intelligence, QR-FL provides an architecture foundation for future CPS, offering a landmark direction for secure, decentralized AI in the quantum age.

Mohammed Naif Alatawi

The increasing reliance on cloud services demands advanced security mechanisms to protect sensitive data and ensure robust access control. This study addresses critical challenges in cloud security by proposing a novel framework that integrates blockchain-based smart contracts to enhance authorization and authentication processes. Smart contracts, as self-executing agreements embedded with predefined rules, enable decentralized, transparent, and tamper-proof mechanisms for managing access control in cloud environments. The proposed system mitigates prevalent threats such as unauthorized access, data breaches, and identity theft through an immutable and auditable security framework. A prototype system, developed using Ethereum blockchain and Solidity programming, demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach. Rigorous evaluations reveal significant improvements in key metrics: security, with a 0% success rate for unauthorized access attempts; scalability, maintaining low response times for up to 100 concurrent users; and usability, with an average user satisfaction rating of 4.4 out of 5. These findings establish the efficacy of smart contract-based solutions in addressing critical vulnerabilities in cloud services while maintaining operational efficiency. The study underscores the transformative potential of blockchain and smart contracts in revolutionizing cloud security practices. Future research will focus on optimizing the system’s scalability for higher user loads and integrating advanced features such as adaptive authentication and anomaly detection for enhanced resilience across diverse cloud platforms.

Fan Zhang, Lingling Zhang

This research explores the distributed database security storage and access control scheme based on IPFS and blockchain for the privacy issues such as sensitive data leakage and account security under the rapid development of Internet technology. The research background focuses on the contradictory status quo of data value enhancement and black-market data trading in the fields of intelligent medical care and unmanned driving, etc. Although the existing database security technology has made progress in encryption algorithms, dynamic protection, etc., it is still faced with the challenges of performance bottleneck and fine-grained access control of centralized architecture. The research aims to integrate the advantages of IPFS distributed storage and the tamper-proof characteristics of blockchain to construct a new type of secure storage system. Through theoretical analysis of IPFS peer-to-peer file system architecture, blockchain six-layer model (data layer, network layer, consensus layer, etc.) and AES/SM4 encryption algorithms, a system solution integrating blockchain smart contract and IPFS storage is designed: SM4 encrypts the original data and then stores it in IPFS, and achieves traceability through the blockchain record hash, and introduces the proxy re-encryption based on the identity technology to Realize dynamic access control. Experiments comparing the performance of MongoDB and IPFS show that in 5000 transactions, the delay of IPFS mode 12 nodes is reduced by 1.71 times compared with 6 nodes, which is significantly better than that of MongoDB's by 1.22 times; in the throughput test, IPFS increases linearly with the increase of nodes, while MongoDB decreases after the peak value. The study confirms that the combination of IPFS and blockchain can effectively reduce transaction latency by 31%, improve throughput by 30%, and safeguard the security of the whole data lifecycle through cryptographic technology. The results provide a decentralized security framework for distributed databases, with both theoretical innovation and engineering application value, which is of great practical significance for highly sensitive data fields such as healthcare and finance.

Franco Frattolillo

Watermarking protocols represent a possible solution to the problem of digital copyright protection of content distributed on the Internet. Their implementations, however, continue to be a complex problem due to the difficulties researchers encounter in proposing secure, easy-to-use and, at the same time, “trusted third parties” (TTPs)-free solutions. In this regard, implementations based on blockchain and smart contracts are among the most advanced and promising, even if they are affected by problems regarding the performance and privacy of the information exchanged and processed by smart contracts and managed by blockchains. This paper presents a watermarking protocol implemented by smart contracts and blockchain. The protocol uses a “layer-2” blockchain execution model and performs the computation in “trusted execution environments” (TEEs). Therefore, its implementation can guarantee efficient and confidential execution without compromising ease of use or resorting to TTPs. The protocol and its implementation can, thus, be considered a valid answer to the “trilemma” that afflicts the use of blockchains, managing to guarantee decentralization, security, and scalability.

Vinod Chandra S S, Ali Elrashidi, S Purushotham, C Karthick · 6 authors

Land registration systems in many regions suffer from issues of forgery, inefficiency, lack of transparency, and costly manual intervention. In this paper, we introduce a secured land registration framework based on blockchain technology, where the dynamic social contracts implemented will be used to automate property transactions and will guarantee the integrity of the data, its security and traceability. The architecture of the system combines dynamic smart contracts (complex legal logic) to support a permissioned blockchain (Hyperledger Fabric), and decentralized off-chains storage (IPFS) to handle large documents. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and biometric along with PKI-based digital identity verification supports the secure stakeholder authentication. It supports low-latency, high-throughput operation with the use of Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) consensus which is appropriate to real-time land transfers. Thorough benchmarking has been done in terms of system performance measured by various parameters, such as transaction time, throughput, cost of gas, the latency of the update of ownership, and auditability of smart contracts. Proposed system has also significantly minimized the errors used in both traditional systems and the accuracy in transactions stood at 99.84%. The average ownership transfer time was decreased to 420ms versus 5600ms, and throughput was above 175 TPS, beating both public blockchains and centralized databases. In addition, the system has undergone all of the both significant smart contract security audits, as well as tests of reentrancy, DoS, and access control breaches. The paper shows that the combination of blockchain and adaptive smart contract may achieve the modernization of land registration providing its clients with safe, transparent, and efficient services. The system has a high likelihood of being implemented in the land governance infrastructure where legal compliance, real-time update facility and fraud resistant are king.

Gennaro Avitabile, Vincenzo Botta, Daniele Friolo, Ivan Visconti

Balancing immutability and compliance with regulations stands as a significant challenge in the realm of blockchain technology applications. Due to the increase of data-protection requirements (e.g., the GDPR in the EU), it is essential to address the problem of deleting data from a blockchain without compromising the security and transparency of the blockchain itself. Several works proposed techniques to address the data redaction problem. In their seminal work, Ateniese et al. [EuroS&P 2017] were the first to propose a redactable blockchain. Their approach focuses on permissioned blockchains and they showed how to change the content of a transaction without breaking the chaining among blocks by using special cryptographic hash functions (i.e., chameleon hash functions) and secure multi-party computation. We observe that the redaction technique of Ateniese et al. does not take into account the possibility that the blockchain supports smart contracts and that a redaction of a transaction might leave inconsistencies in the logic of the contracts, making some remaining non-redacted transactions invalid, and, more in general, the state of a smart contract inconsistent with the content of transactions. We find this choice rather limiting since decentralized and publicly verifiable computation guaranteed by smart-contract-enabled blockchains is necessary for modern (i.e., Web3) applications. To overcome the above limitations of the applicability of the redaction techniques of Ateniese et al., we propose a redaction technique with wider applicability that leverages succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (SNARKs) to realize what we call a proof-of-consistency .

Blake Regalia, Benjamin Adams

The greatest advantage that Web3 applications offer over Web 2.0 is the evolution of the data access layer. Opaque, centralized services that compelled trust from users are replaced by trustless, decentralized systems of smart contracts. However, the public nature of blockchain-based databases, on which smart contracts transact, has typically presented a challenge for applications that depend on data privacy or that rely on participants having incomplete information. This has changed with the introduction of confidential smart contract networks that encrypt the memory state of active contracts as well as their databases stored on-chain. With confidentiality, contracts can more readily implement novel interaction mechanisms that were previously infeasible. Meanwhile, in both Web 2.0 and Web3 applications, the user interface continues to play a crucial role in translating user intent into actionable requests. In many cases, developers have shifted intelligence and autonomy onto the client, leveraging web technologies for computation, graphics, and networking. Web3’s reliance on such frontends has revealed a pain point though, namely that decentralized applications are not accessible to end users without a persistent host serving the web application. Here we introduce the Non-Fungible Program (NFP) model for developing self-contained frontend applications that are distributed via blockchain, powered by web technology, backed by encrypted databases, and controlled by confidential smart contracts. Access to frontend code, as well as backend services, is controlled and guaranteed by smart contracts according to the NFT ownership model, eliminating the need for a separate host. By extension, NFP applications bring interactivity to token owners and enable new functionalities—such as authorization mechanisms for oracles, supplementary web services, and overlay networks—in a secure manner. In addition to releasing an open-source software development kit for building NFPs, we demonstrate the utility of NFPs with an interactive Bayesian game implemented on Secret Network.

Guangyu Liao, Zengpeng Li, Guangsheng Feng, Mei Wang · 5 authors

Distributed public ledger (e.g., Blockchain) has been proven to be a powerful technique that allows users to sign transactions in an untrusted environment, where identity-privacy disclosure is gaining attention in practice. Ring signatures can protect identities by providing anonymity property for users. However, a malicious anonymous user may generate multiple signatures on the same transaction, called double-spending attack. A unique ring signature avoids this attack by attaching a unique identifier to the transaction. In addition, future-proof cryptographic solutions are attracting attention in the quantum era. Thus, we aim to propose a post-quantum unique ring signature scheme for anonymous transactions, named . We initially provide verifiable random functions over lattices (L-VRF, in short) with tight security and optimize the proof size (compared with the work of Nguyen et al., ESORICS’ 22) using compression techniques. We then obtain from L-VRF inspired by the previous solution of Franklin-Zhang (FC’ 13) while enables to prevent of quantum computer attacks. Finally, is analyzed under the quantum random oracle model (QROM) while providing a prototype via C language. The performance evaluation shows offers a smaller communication load.

Aarti Punia, Preeti Gulia, Nasib Singh Gill, Umesh Kumar Lilhore · 8 authors

No abstract is available for this record.