Below you can find research papers submitted published by our community. These documents range from highly technical to more business overviews. Most of them were published at conferences or online. We do not review them, solely want to show the breath of interest and inspire others to investigate our tools and frameworks. If you have a paper you wrote, and would like to see it here, please email mpiekarska@linuxfoundation.org.
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Transitioning to a Hyperledger Fabric Hybrid Quantum Resistant Classical Public Key Infrastructure
Hyperledger Fabric (HLF) is a permissioned, blockchain designed by IBM and uses Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), for digital signatures, and digital identities (X.509 certificates), which are critical to the operational security of its network. On 24 January 2019, Aetna, Anthem, Health Care Service Corporation, PNC Bank, and IBM announced a collaboration to establish a blockchain-based ecosystem for the healthcare industry [1]. Quantum computing poses a devastating impact on PKI and estimates of its large-scale commercial arrival should not be underestimated and cannot be predicted. The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),requires “reasonable” measures to be taken to protect Protected Health Information (PHI), and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). However, HLF’s ecosystem is not post-quantum resistant, and all data that is transmitted over its network is vulnerable to immediate or later decryption by large scale quantum computers. This research presents independent evaluation and testing of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), based Second Round Candidate Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), lattice-based digital signature scheme qTESLA. The second-round submission is much improved, however; its algorithm characteristics and parameters are such that it is unlikely to be a quantum-resistant “as is,” pure “plug-and-play” function and replacement for HLF’s PKI. This work also proposes that qTESLA’s public keys be used to create a quantum-resistant-classical hybrid PKI near-term replacement.
The paper can be found at - https://jbba.scholasticahq.com/article/9902-transitioning-to-a-hyperledger-fabric-quantum-resistant-classical-hybrid-public-key-infrastructure
[Master Thesis] Creating a Competitive Advantage from Underdeveloped General-Purpose Technologies
In an age of ever faster technological development, we are presented with exciting new technologies that, as it seems, make the headlines daily. Innovations such as artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technologies seem to be the next big thing and promise to radically change the world as we know it. Yet, startups in these areas are faced with hard to overcome obstacles. pe, high potential disruptive impact, and technological immaturity force startups to build competitive business models without yet exactly knowing what is technologically feasible or economically viable. Research, especially empirical, is lacking in this area while the demand for a better understanding is growing rapidly.
This thesis tries to identify which challenges new ventures face when building a competitive business model in the context of underdeveloped general-purpose technologies and how they overcome them. Specifically, we employ an inductive exploratory research approach and interview seven startups in the area of distributed ledger technologies and artificial intelligence. We strive to improve the understanding of general characteristics of doing business with underdeveloped general-purpose technologies as well as the specific challenges these startups face regarding the design of their business model, the technology, and the environment. Initially, we use existing academic frameworks to identify current potential general-purpose technologies. Based on these findings, we choose two technologies for our core analysis. In line with previous research, we find that startups within these technologies employ two distinct business model development approaches; either a business model centered or technology centered approach. Furthermore, we propose a “Business Model Development Matrix” to classify startups into one of these two approaches as well as an “Emerging Technology Triangle” to better understand the general economic characteristics of underdeveloped general-purpose technologies. Subsequently, we offer eight findings regarding the challenges these startups face in terms of business model design, and additionally three findings regarding their technology, and the business environment respectively. An investigation into these two business model development approaches is novel and adds to the intersection between research in technology, entrepreneurship, and business model development. We believe that this thesis will encourage researchers to further dive into more detailed characteristics of the two aforementioned business model development approaches as well as better understand how and why they succeed in practice. We believe that research in this area is of equal importance to entrepreneurs, existing corporations, and policy-makers.
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Zero-Knowledge Proof: Verifying Blockchain Transactions with Less Risk
Zero-knowledge proof is a method of verification, which enables one party to prove to another party that they know a certain secret value without revealing the information itself. Businesses that are sensitive to risk may find this approach useful when adopting blockchain.
The document explains:
the definition and criteria for ZKP
the general structure and computational model of ZKP
noninteractive ZKP
use cases for ZKP
examples of ZKP usage in existing decentralized technologies (such as Ethereum)
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Developing a Log Storage System using Hyperledger
Hyperledger is one of the most promising blockchains that provide easy-to-use smart contract functionalities. With the help of IBM and Sovrin foundation, more and more developers and consumers start to adopt HyperLedger to serve their business purposes. In 2018, a team from a Chinese company Humsen Inc. published a paper at the international conference IEEE ICSESS 2018. The research paper was on how to develop a log storage system Medusa using Hyperledger technologies.
Web logs and audit logs are two most common log types in real world enterprises and institutes. The safety and accuracy of log data is of crucial importance to data users. Unlike legacy data management systems, Hyperledger based log system provides tamper-proof and decentralized log keeping system that are immune to a high proportion of Byzantine nodes in the distributed system. Medusa provides data query and appending functionalities. Compared with log storage system proposals based on other systems such as ETH , Hyperledger-based log storage system has a huge advantage in regard of throughput and latency. This is what has made blockchain powered log system one step closer to commercialization.
The research project was led by Chief Scientist Hao Wang at Humsen Inc. The paper could be found at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8663935.
Blockchain Technologies for the Internet of Things: Research Issues and Challenges
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Using Blockchains to Strengthen the Security of Internet of Things
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[Master thesis] Blockchain for Change, An exploratory research on the potential of blockchain technology to create more sustainable global value chains
This research, therefore, explores the claimed potential of blockchain technology as a technical solution to address the wicked sustainability problems in the global value chains. In addition to research on existing literature, a qualitative, exploratory research design is applied, to explore and generate in-depth and rich information, for which a Delphi study is used. The sample is selected through purposive sampling, which assures to provide a wide range of information based on varying experiences and perspectives from experts on the research question. In order to create a complete picture of this subject, the study critically assesses the possibilities and limitations of both conventional sustainability standards and blockchain technology encountered among various global value chains, which are identified in the research.
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Block by Block
This report compares nine distributed ledger platforms on nearly 30 metrics related to the capabilities and the health of each platform. The analysis looks at a broad range of indicators -- both direct and indirect -- with the goal of synthesizing trends and patterns that define the market leaders.
We compare each of the systems on a variety of criteria. The criteria are grouped into three categories:
- Technical Structure & Feature Set
- Business Considerations
- Health Indicators
For each category, we examine a variety of largely objective metrics in hopes of being able to draw some meaningful comparisons that will provide you with firm ground for making an assessment of suitability for purpose.
The final section of this paper discusses in detail the conclusions reached in this report. The most significant conclusions being:
- Ethereum is the clear leader in the public blockchain space, with broad support and a large number of resources and developers.
- Corda and Fabric lead in the private blockchain space, with Fabric benefitting from the backing of Hyperledger and IBM.
- NXT is a project of some concern, whose future seems in doubt.
- Quorum, after a strong start, has slowed and appears to be going through some changes that bear watching.
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[In Serbian] Blockchain distribuirani sistemi i njihova primena u farmaceutskoj industriji
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[In Serbian] Blockchain дистрибуирани системи и њихова примјена у индустрији видео игара
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An Application of Blockchain Distributed Systems for Supply Chains in the Pharmaceutical Industry
This paper describes an application, built on top of the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain framework, for efficient and reliable support of the supply chain in the pharmaceutical industry. The presented application showcases how blockchain’s immutable ledger, peer-to-peer (P2P) network, consensus algorithms, and smart contracts all combine and synergize to create a secure, reliable, auditable, and cheaper way of performing business. The application is developed on the Proof of Concept (PoC) level, using the Hyperledger Composer framework. It enables communication with a private Hyperledger Fabric network via Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations. The developed PoC shows that the use of the Hyperledger Composer framework allows simple creation of business networks which include participants, assets, transactions, and relationships between these entities. Our research shows that Hyperledger Composer significantly reduces the amount of time needed to develop a Hyperledger Fabric blockchain-based software solution. However, for more customized approaches, the Hyperledger Fabric platform needs to be used directly on the infrastructure level. When using Fabric, smart contracts are written on the lower level of abstraction, using the Go programming language, instead of the high-level JavaScript code used in Composer. Plans for future work include implementing the solution directly on the Hyperledger Fabric platform, as well as extending the available functionalities of the application to cover an even wider set of use cases.
Download Paper: View file name ICIST_2018_Kopaonik_Paper.pdf height 250
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A Model-Driven Approach to Establishment of Private Blockchain Business Networks
In this research, we aim to resolve challenges related to custom BN modeling, development, and disposition to cloud execution platforms. Accordingly, the first goal of this research is to introduce a model-driven approach in order to address: (i) the BN modeling challenges, by providing a DSL as a formal modeling technique; and (ii) the development and disposition challenges, by using the BN DSL specification for generating all the required BN code constructs, so it can be deployed to the target cloud execution environment. By doing this, we first want to increase the abstraction level of specifying a custom BN, in order to enable various blockchain domain experts to develop their BNs even they are not familiar with concrete PBC development frameworks. In this way, we also want to eliminate protentional errors caused by the need for specifying repetitive configuration parameters and boilerplate code constructs. Second, our goal is to ease the process of custom BN specification and development in practice, make it less dependent from the specific CVs or development teams and therefore less time-consuming. Third, we want to decrease the development and testing costs in order to enable various individuals and organizations to dispose their custom BNs to cloud execution platforms without the need for using expensive BCaaS. We also consider this as a big step towards expanding the PBC development community, while at the same time enabling great ideas and projects to reach the production readiness more quickly.
Download Paper:View file name ICIST_2019_paper_5.pdf height 250
Boosting Transition to Paperless Trade – Mapping Traditional Trade Contracts to Smart Contracts
Distributed ledger technology (DLT), alongside smart contracts, is seen with hope by many actors involved in international trade as a new opportunity to further facilitate and digitalize international trade transactions. In order to mitigate deficiencies of the current legislation, and to avoid pitfalls that limited digitalization of trade in previous decades, a carefully planned transition needs to be conducted. For this reason, we built a solution that eases the transition to paperless by allowing for unobtrusive coexistence of traditional trading contracts and corresponding smart contracts running on the blockchain. Coexistence is achieved by automatically translating relevant trade terms and conditions specified in traditional trading contracts to the corresponding logic implemented in smart contracts.
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