(originally proposed as Trusted Compute Framework (TCF))

Project Identifier

HIP: TCF

Sponsor(s)

Eugene (Yevgeniy) Yarmosh; Intel; yevgeniy.y.yarmosh@intel.com - primary contact

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Silas Davis; silas@monax.io

Abstract

The Trusted Compute Framework is a ledger independent implementation of the Trusted Compute Specifications published by the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

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• Improved blockchain throughput and scalability
• Improved transaction privacy
• Attested Oracles,   trusted reporters of data generated outside of the blockchain.

Context

The TCF prototype has been released to open source as a Hyperledger Lab project at https://github.com/hyperledger-labs/trusted-compute-framework.

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A prototype (work in progress) that integrates TCF and Hyperledger Fabric can be found at https://github.com/jeffgarratt/fabric-prototype/tree/tcf-demo and https://github.com/jeffgarratt/hyperledger-member-summit-2019-tcf-demo-app

Dependent Projects

TCF does not depend on other Hyperledger projects. However, other Hyperledger projects are encouraged to use TCF as a component.

Motivation

The Trusted Compute Framework (TCF) enables the secure movement of blockchain processing off the main chain to dedicated computing resources.  This enables:

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• Maintain a registry of the trusted workers (including their attestation info)
• Provide a mechanism for submitting work orders from a client(s) to a worker
• Preserve a log of work order receipts and acknowledgments

Status

This project started in incubation and is now a full-fledged Hyperledger project.

The initial core functionality of the project has been implemented and the community will deliver additional functionality and bring project quality to product level standards.

Solution

Early blockchains delivered computational trust via massive replication but had limited throughput, and imperfect privacy and confidentiality. Adding trusted off-chain execution to a blockchain is proposed as way to improve blockchain performance in these areas. A main blockchain maintains a single authoritative instance of the objects, enforces execution policies, and ensures transaction and result auditability, while associated off-chain trusted computing allows greater throughput, increases Work Order integrity, and protects data confidentiality.

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• TCS submits the Work Order response to the Work Order Queue on the blockchain and updates the Work Order receipt on the blockchain.
• After the Work Order Result is submitted, the Recipient receives a notification and retrieves the result from the blockchain. It may also retrieve the updated Work Order Receipt. In many use cases the receipt is used by 3^rd party (not by a requester itself) for payment processing, dispute resolution, auditing, or regulation compliance
• The requester decrypts the result using the same one-time key that was generated during the invocation phase. The Requester uses the Worker’s public verification key to verify that the result was signed by the Worker (and hence the Work Order indeed was processed by the right Worker).

Efforts and Resources

Initial functional implementation is already available as a Hyperledger Lab project [TCF-GITHUB]. The TCF implementation is derived from another Hyperledger Lab called Private Data Objects (PDO) [TCF-GITHUB]. Initially a private branch was forked by Intel to build the initial TCF implementation, with contributions from iExec.   

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• Intel Corporation: 7 contributors to deliver core TCF infrastructure and Intel SGX-specific code
• iExec: 4 contributors will develop Ethereum smart contracts, integrate TEE options that support most of the the mainstream programming languages and native applications, and improve TCF easy-of-use for developers
• Alibaba: 2 contributors who will work to adopt TCF for its Ali Cloud and contribute to the TCF core to extend supported programming environments, e.g. GOLANG
• Baidu: 2 contributors who will work on enhancing core capabilities and integration of MesaTEE based workers.
• BGI: Will contribute to the integration of TCF into Hyperledger Fabric
• Chainlink: 3 contributors that will contribute to the TCF's plans for how to integrate with decentralized oracles and attested oracles, which will be able to provide both TCF computations and various on-chain computations enabled by them with secure access to various key API inputs and enterprise/payment event outputs.
• Consensys: 2 contributors to work on the TCF architecture, documentation, and spec compliance
• EEA: expects to use TCF as a base for its EEA Off chain TC Specification certification program and cooperate with the TCF community to drive improvements to the Specification
• Espeo: 1 developer to contribute a monitor tool and help with implementation of Ethereum integration
• IBM: 1 contributor to work on integrating TCF with Fabric 
• Kaleido (A ConsenSys Business): 1 contributor working on deployment and manageability solution for hosting Trusted Compute Service
• Microsoft: to provide Azure resources to run a TCF test net and contribute to Trusted Token usage implementation
• Santander: 3 contributors to provide reference implementation of critical use cases and incorporate TCF into Santander's cyber-security policies.
• WiPro: 2 contributors working on design and implementation of resource types (ZKP, MPC etc.)

How To

The project will be managed in a Hyperledger GitHub repository and will follow community norms present in other Hyperledger projects.

We propose creation of the following repository:  github.com/hyperledger/trusted-compute-framework

References

[TCF-GITHUB]

TCF Hyperledger Labs repo: https://github.com/hyperledger-labs/trusted-compute-framework

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https://github.com/jeffgarratt/fabric-prototype/tree/tcf-demo and https://github.com/jeffgarratt/hyperledger-member-summit-2019-tcf-demo-app

FAQ

What is the connection between TCF and Gardener? TCF and Gardener discovered each other recently and we definitely agree that there is shared scope between these two projects and both projects are interested in working together in the process of evaluating optimal collaboration options. 

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What is the relation between TCF and Gardener projects? Gardener and TCF are separate but complementary projects. Gardener may adopt TCF core infrastructure for testing purposes during the TCF  implementation phase. In the future TCF will be one of the attested Oracle use cases. Espeo (primary Gardener sponsor) will join TCF and to contribute a monitor tool and help with implementation of Ethereum integration.

Closure

The success of this project can be measured by successful integration of TCF with multiple DLTs and, more importantly, by its broad utilization in real world enterprise-focused use cases emphasizing requirements of scalability and privacy preservation. 

Reviewed By

•  Arnaud Le Hors
•  Baohua Yang
•  Binh Nguyen
•  Christopher Ferris
•  Dan Middleton
•  Hart Montgomery
•  Kelly Olson
•  Mark Wagner
•  Mic Bowman
•  Nathan George
•  Silas Davis

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