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A Blockchain-based Random Number Generation Algorithm and the Application in Blockchain Games
Abstract
Blockchain technology has developed rapidly and has been applied in various areas. Blockchain technology has the features of decentralization, transparency, autonomy and tamper resistance etc. The blockchain, with its unique features, can address some problems in traditional areas. In traditional games area, especially the gambling game, we learn that there is a strong requirement for fairness and random numbers. But traditional games are centralized and cannot meet this requirement. Hence, we propose a blockchain-based random number generation algorithm that can provide a “true random number”. This algorithm allows all the participants to take part in the generation of a random number, which ensures that the random number will not be manipulated by anyone. We as well design a blockchain game platform adopting this random number generation algorithm. Traditional games can be deployed on this platform with a simple adaptation. Finally, we deploy a poker game on the platform to verify the algorithm and performance. The experimental results show that the algorithm is effective and the platform has good performance.
... Du et al. [7] BC-based random game theory to prevent human manipulation Windfall games ...
... The application environment allows PSC executions through random environment variables that do not rely on consensus on selected miners. Du et al. [7] proposed node participation for random number generation to improve trust and performed experiments that validated security and privacy computations. However, inducing trust as a parameter in SC execution was not addressed. ...
... As discussed in section II, ensure fairness and transparency in-game operations among GP and GO, secure randomization in input oracles to SC [6], [7] is necessary. Moreover, collusions among dishonest miners forces non-transparency in SC evaluation, which ensures forged block additions in favor of dishonest entity. ...
In modern decentralized Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based sensor communications, pseudo noise-diffusion oracles are heavily investigated as random oracles for data exchange among peer nodes. As these oracles are generated through algorithmic processes, they pass the standard random tests for finite and bounded intervals only. This ensures a false sense of privacy and confidentiality in exchange through open protocol IoT-stacks in public channels i.e. Internet. Recently, blockchain (BC)-envisioned random sequences as input oracles are proposed about financial applications, and windfall games like roulette, poker, and lottery. These random inputs exhibit fairness, and non-determinism in SC executions termed as probabilistic smart contracts (PSC). However, the IoT-enabled PSC process might be controlled and forged through humans, machines, and bot-nodes through physical and computational methods. Moreover, dishonest entities like contract owners, players, and miners can coordinate together to form collusion attacks during consensus to propagate false updates, which ensures forged block additions by miners in BC. Motivated by these facts, in this paper, we propose a BC-envisioned IoT-enabled PSC scheme, SaNkhyA, which is executed in three phases. In the first phase, the scheme eliminates colluding dishonest miners through the proposed miner selection algorithm. Then, in the second phase, the elected miners agree through the proposed consensus protocol to generate a stream of random bits. In the third phase, the generated random bit-stream is split through random splitters and fed as input oracles to the proposed PSC among participating entities. In simulation, the scheme ensures a trust probability of 0.38 even at 85% collusion among miners and has an average block processing delay of 1.3 seconds compared to serial approaches, where the block processing delay is 5.6 seconds, thereby exhibiting improved scalability. The overall computation and communication cost is 28.48 milliseconds , and 101 bytes, respectively that indicates the efficacy of the proposed scheme compared to the traditional schemes.
... Although the three basic random number generation methods did not seem suitable for our proposed scheme, a thorough review of the literature led us to a model that did. The authors in [33] presented a roulette game implemented with a smart contract. Players wager a certain number of tokens on a number and win if their chosen number comes up in the smart contract's lucky draw. ...
... Thus, the proposed system is similar to a roulette game where the DSO is the owner of the game and the prover nodes are the players. For this reason, we chose to use the same random number generation as implemented in [33]. Having its public key stored in the smart contract, the DSO starts the process by sending an encrypted number of its choice. ...
To combat the problem of illegal access to a service, several location proof strategies have been proposed in the literature. In blockchain-based decentralized applications, transactions can be issued by IoT nodes or other automated smart devices. Key pair encryption and private key signing have been defined mainly for human identification in blockchain applications, where users are personally and responsibly concerned about the confidentiality of their private key. These methods are not suitable for computing nodes whose private key is implemented in the software they run. Ensuring that transactions are issued by a legitimate sender with the proper credentials is a bigger concern in applications with financial stakes. This is the case with blockchain energy trading platforms, where prosumers are credited with tokens in exchange for their contributions of energy. The tokens are issued by smart meter nodes installed at fixed locations to monitor the energy inputs and outputs of a given prosumer and claim energy tokens on its behalf from a defined smart contract in exchange for the energy it feeds into the grid. To this end, we have developed a decentralized Proof-of-Location (PoL) system tailored to blockchain applications for energy trading. It ensures that automated transactions are issued by the right nodes by using smart contract-based random selection and a game-theoretic scenario suitable for blockchain energy trading.
... A blockchain is a decentralized, shared, and immutable digital ledger that records transactions in blocks that are linked together cryptographically. Beginning with Bitcoin, purpose-built blockchains have been proposed for a wide variety of applications including payment networks [1], [2], decentralized provision of DNS information [3], [4], gambling [5], social media [6], stablecoins [7], [8] and many others [9]. This early array of purpose-built blockchains was followed by a wave of blockchain projects which aim to be general-purpose in nature, allowing features like Turingcomplete on-chain scripting and other highly customizable functionality [10]- [13]. ...
... Second, (17) shows that if a peer has perfect performance, then at each bridge its trust value moves a (1 − β ∆ ) fraction of the way towards T * . Since (1 − β ∆ ) < 1, this ensures that trust remains bounded: whenever T − i ≤ T * , it must be that T i ≤ T * , proving (5). ...
The Philos Marketplace blockchain system is a proposed hierarchical blockchain architecture which allows a large number of individual blockchains to operate in parallel. These parallel chains achieve consensus among one another on a limited set of core operations, while allowing each on-chain application to manage its own data independently of others. This architecture addresses the scalability issues of traditional linear blockchains, but requires novel consensus mechanisms. A central feature of the Philos consensus mechanism is its trust algorithm, which assigns each network node a numerical trust value (or score) indicating the quality of recent past performance. This trust value is then used to determine a node's voting weight at the higher levels of consensus. In this paper, we formally define the Philos trust algorithm, and provide several illustrations of its operation, both theoretically and empirically. We also ask whether a misbehaving node can strategically exploit the algorithm for its personal gain, and show that this type of exploitation can be universally prevented simply by enforcing a mild limit on the number of participants in each of the parallel chains.
... Beyond embedded security, TRNGs are widely used in statistical simulations, gaming , lottery and gambling , wireless communication, blockchain [11], and machine learning [12], making them a highly competitive and key focus of research. To address challenges and leverage TRNG potential, this work ingeniously combines noise sources to create a compact, power-efficient design subjected to rigorous evaluations. ...
This paper presents a lightweight, high-entropy true random number generator architecture featuring an innovative quad cross-coupled feedback mechanism to enhance randomness. The primary goal is to develop an efficient and secure true random number generator that addresses the growing demand for reliable random number generation in cryptographic and security-critical applications. The motivation stems from the need to improve entropy, reduce resource utilization, and ensure robustness across varying technologies. With the intention of achieving near-perfect randomness, the Quad-Input Oscillating Circuit module integrates self-coupled, jitter-inducing ring oscillators with cross-coupled feedback loops to induce metastability. Comprehensive evaluations confirm a Shannon entropy of 0.999818, a minimum entropy of 0.977257, and a collision entropy of 0.999636. The design was synthesized using Synopsys Design Compiler at 45 nm, 32 nm, and 14 nm, achieving a maximum frequency of 6.7 GHz, power consumption as low as 72 μW, and area utilization of 24 μm² at 14 nm. Rigorous validation through multiple statistical test suites, including the AIS-31, Autocorrelation, Deviation, Diehard, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies SP800-22 and SP800-90B, and TestU01, confirms its efficiency and reliability. Real random bits were implemented as oscilloscope-viewable signals on the Cyclone V Field Programmable Gate Array developed by Altera, representing a significant advancement in secure random number generation technologies.
... High-quality random numbers are essential in many important and practical areas including telecommunications [1]- [3], cryptography [4]- [5], simulations [6]- [7], games [8], and quantum technologies such as Quantum Key Distribution [9]- [11], Quantum Imaging [12]- [13], and Quantum Radar [14]- [15]. There are two approaches to the generation of random numbers: a software approach known as a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG), which uses mathematical algorithms to generate random numbers from an initial seed [16]- [17], and a hardware approach known as a True Random Number Generator (TRNG), which extracts random numbers from a physical process [18]- [19]. ...
As true random numbers are essential for many applications, high-quality Random Number Generators
(RNGs) are highly demanded. Several different statistical test suites have been developed to evaluate the quality of
RNGs. However, some programming skills are required to work with these statistical tests as they are not available
as self-contained software and often are without a Graphical User Interface (GUI). In this work, we have developed
PiRATe (Pi Randomness Assessment Test) an easy-to-use wrapper software for the assessment of RNGs using
a comprehensive set of statistical tests, including DIEHARDER, NIST SP800-22, NIST SP800-90B, EntropyNonlinearity-Test (ENT), Borel Normality, and four Chaitin-Schwartz-Solovay-Strassen tests. We then used PiRATe to
evaluate the quality of five different (Commercial and Experimental) Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs).
... High-quality random numbers are essential in many important and practical areas including telecommunications [1]- [3], cryptography [4]- [5], simulations [6]- [7], games [8], and quantum technologies such as Quantum Key Distribution [9]- [11], Quantum Imaging [12]- [13], and Quantum Radar [14]- [15]. There are two approaches to the generation of random numbers: a software approach known as a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG), which uses mathematical algorithms to generate random numbers from an initial seed [16]- [17], and a hardware approach known as a True Random Number Generator (TRNG), which extracts random numbers from a physical process [18]- [19]. ...
As true random numbers are essential for many applications, high-quality Random Number Generators (RNGs) are highly demanded. Several different statistical test suites have been developed to evaluate the quality of RNGs. However, some programming skills are required to work with these statistical tests as they are not available as self-contained software and often are without a Graphical User Interface (GUI). In this work, we have developed PiRATe (Pi Randomness Assessment Test) an easy-to-use wrapper software for the assessment of RNGs using a comprehensive set of statistical tests, including DIEHARDER, NIST SP800-22, NIST SP800-90B, Entropy-Nonlinearity-Test (ENT), Borel Normality, and four Chaitin-Schwartz-Solovay-Strassen tests. We then used PiRATe to evaluate the quality of five different (Commercial and Experimental) Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs)
... Nevertheless, blockchain gaming has major drawbacks, including the lack of control over undesirable or illegal content [50] and the considerable transaction cost [64]. In addition, ERC token standards do not interface effectively with other layers for correctly representing video game assets on the blockchain. ...
... Randomness generators are a very crucial resource and we employ them readily in our everyday computational and communication activities, including cryptography [1,2], scientific simulations, gaming, statistical sampling, and many others [3,4]. Most of the random number generators that are employed today for practical use are sourced from algorithms on a classical computer. ...
We theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate the use of a configurable four-qubit photonic system to generate a publicly verifiable quantum random numbers, to perform entanglement verification, and to generate a secure public and private key. Quantum circuits, to generate the desired four-qubit states and its experimental realization in the photonic architecture is carried out using photon pairs entangled in polarization and path degree of freedom. By performing measurements on the four-qubit system and accessing partial information of the four-qubit state for public verification, we generate publicly verified and purely secured random bits at the rate of 370 kbps. When the system is used for generating public and private keys, an equal number of public and private keys are generated simultaneously. We also record about 97.9\% of sampled bits from four-qubit states passing entanglement verification. The theoretical model of noise on the four-qubit state and its effect on the generation rate of verified and secured bits are in perfect agreement with the experimental results. This demonstrates the practical use of the small-scale multi-qubit photonic system for quantum-safe applications by providing the option for real-time verification of the security feature of the quantum system.
... The remaining 28% goes to the 75 relatively less popular platforms. [190], Zcash [191], Blockchain Game Platform (BGP) [192], Nebulas [167] , AVALANCHE [193], originChain [194], RepChain [195], NEM [196], BCIoT-CAF [197], BOSSA [198] ...
Blockchain is an emerging technology based on the digital ledger in the distributed system. The decentralized trust is one of its prominent features that ensures better transparency. Blockchain-based systems also enhance data integrity, confidentiality, and anonymity by eliminating third-party involvement in completing the transactions. Many SLRs have been published related to blockchain recently, but no comprehensive and systematic study on blockchain platforms has been conducted. So, there is a need for an organized and systematic review of blockchain platforms. This paper has reported a systematic literature review on existing blockchain platforms. We have formulated two research questions to determine the major frameworks used to implement blockchain-based systems and how they differ in implementation and operation. We have identified eighty-five blockchain platforms. To provide comprehensive insights on blockchain platforms, we identified related technologies and provided a map for further research development on blockchain technology.
... Decentralization is the fundamental characteristic of blockchain technology. Blockchain applications facilitate the recording, storage, and updating of data without the need for centralized organizations [62], [63], [64]. A peer-topeer (P2P) system and a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism make it possible for the blockchain system to provide these services and be the basis for decentralized ledgers. ...
n recent years, the surge in the acceptance and integration of blockchain technology has been notable.This growing demand has spurred rapid advancements and widespread implementation across diversesectors, with relevance to the educational gaming realm. Despite the significant implications ofblockchain in the context of digital learning games, scholarly investigations on the subject remain scarce.This review aims to demystify the landscape of blockchain technology for educators and provide themwith a nuanced understanding of its diverse opportunities in the realm of educational gaming. We seekto unravel the untapped potential that this innovative technology holds for enhancing educationalexperiences. Through a systematic exploration of relevant literature and practical examples, this study aspires to bridge the knowledge gap, empowering educators with insights that can inform pedagogical practices. The paper underscores the significance of further research and collaboration to explore the wide range of potential applications that blockchain technology might provide in developing the future of educational gaming.
Keywords: blockchain, educational games, blockchain-based learning, NFTs, smart contract
... There is also an option to join streaming services and play more games. All digital consoles are cheaper, and you don't have to worry about losing them as it has ability to play them on multiple platforms (Du at al. 2019). Moreover, online games provide a platform for social interaction with a large audience globally. ...
Today, digital asset ownership records are stored in a decentralized, distributed database on the basis of blockchain technology. It is no longer possible to modify any stored information on a Blockchain, which makes this technology a legitimate disruptor for sectors such as payments, cybersecurity and healthcare. Considering the increasing implementation of blockchain technology in various fields, this paper aims at focusing its application as a basic gaming experience to newbies, who wish to step into the world of blockchain gaming. Firstly, this paper presents the conceptual design and implementation of blockchain gaming in the framework of a 2D game hosted. This game highlights the incorporation of Fungible and Non-fungible tokens (NFT), which represent the rewards collected by the player. The collected reward bonus in the form of NFT is published on the player’s OpenSea account, connected to MetaMask. The Game flow includes the development of a user-friendly, theme-based interface supported by Solidity as a technological support for building smart contracts using ERC20 and ERC1155 token standards. IPFS (Inter planetary-file system) is used for decentralized storage of metadata and token images, and Hardhat and Alchemy for deployment and overall execution. This game demonstrates a basic implementation of blockchain in gaming and unveils its broader scope through its incorporation in even simple children’s games. This game carries pedagogical significance which can be utilized by the professors to demonstrate the practical usage of fundamental elements of blockchain to the students.
... For this, in the beginning of the data market session, the project owner puts its data to IPFS and the corresponding CIDs are stored on the smart contract. Instead of letting the project owner specify the validation and test datasets, this time, we use a random seed generated by the trainers (through joint random number sharing algorithm [64] or random number generation algorithm on blockchain [65], [66]) in partitioning project owner's data into test and validation datasets so that the validation and test datasets are of similar (if not the same) distributions. ...
... In this case, blockchain can guarantee the transparency of in-game rules and the fairness of the random generation process. For instance, the authors in [53] proposed a blockchain-based algorithm that generates random number in a decentralized manner. In particular, the final random number is calculated based on the random numbers of both the game provider, players, and an on-chain random number. ...
Envisioned to be the next-generation Internet, the metaverse has been attracting enormous attention from both the academia and industry. The metaverse can be viewed as a 3D immersive virtual world, where people use Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) devices to access and interact with others through digital avatars. While early versions of the metaverse exist in several Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, the full-flesh metaverse is expected to be more complex and enabled by various advanced technologies. Blockchain is one of the crucial technologies that could revolutionize the metaverse to become a decentralized and democratic virtual society with its own economic and governance system. Realizing the importance of blockchain for the metaverse, our goal in this paper is to provide a comprehensive survey that clarifies the role of blockchain in the metaverse including in-depth analysis of digital asset management. To this end, we discuss how blockchain can enable the metaverse from different perspectives, ranging from user applications to virtual services and the blockchain-enabled economic system. Furthermore, we describe how blockchain can shape the metaverse from the system perspective, including various solutions for the decentralized governance system and data management. The potential of blockchain for security and privacy aspects of the metaverse infrastructure is also figured out, while a full flow of blockchain-based digital asset management for the metaverse is investigated. Finally, we discuss a wide range of open challenges of the blockchain-empowered metaverse.
... For this, in the beginning of the data market session, the project owner puts its data to IPFS and the corresponding CIDs are stored on the smart contract. Instead of letting the project owner specify the validation and test datasets, this time, we use a random seed generated by the trainers (through joint random number sharing algorithm [58] or random number generation algorithm on blockchain [59], [60]) in partitioning project owner's data into test and validation datasets so that the validation and test datasets are of similar (if not the same) distributions. ...
We consider a project (model) owner that would like to train a model by utilizing the local private data and compute power of interested data owners, i.e., trainers. Our goal is to design a data marketplace for such decentralized collaborative/federated learning applications that simultaneously provides i) proof-of-contribution based reward allocation so that the trainers are compensated based on their contributions to the trained model; ii) privacy-preserving decentralized model training by avoiding any data movement from data owners; iii) robustness against malicious parties (e.g., trainers aiming to poison the model); iv) verifiability in the sense that the integrity, i.e., correctness, of all computations in the data market protocol including contribution assessment and outlier detection are verifiable through zero-knowledge proofs; and v) efficient and universal design. We propose a blockchain-based marketplace design to achieve all five objectives mentioned above. In our design, we utilize a distributed storage infrastructure and an aggregator aside from the project owner and the trainers. The aggregator is a processing node that performs certain computations, including assessing trainer contributions, removing outliers, and updating hyper-parameters. We execute the proposed data market through a blockchain smart contract. The deployed smart contract ensures that the project owner cannot evade payment, and honest trainers are rewarded based on their contributions at the end of training. Finally, we implement the building blocks of the proposed data market and demonstrate their applicability in practical scenarios through extensive experiments.
... The details of its calculation are shown in Algorithm 2, which we will briefly explain. First, the smart contract will generate a set of random numbers ðr 1 ; r 2 ; r 3 ; :::; r n Cdraw Þ, which can be generated by referring to the literature [44] or by using an external oracle. Secondly, the smart contract further calculates the winning lottery serial numbers based on these random numbers. ...
Data trading in the Internet of Things (IoT) based on off-chain payment has attracted a lot of attention recently since it can significantly improve transaction throughput and reduce transaction fees compared with traditional blockchain-based solutions that trade data only with on-chain transactions. However, the vulnerability of off-chain payment protocols to griefing attacks and their requirement for multiple rounds of off-chain interactions among participants limit their adoption to IoT data trading. In this paper, we propose a new concurrent, secure and efficient IoT data trading scheme based on probabilistic micropayment. Particularly, the data buyer makes a deposit on the blockchain, based on which he issues a number of lotteries to multiple data owners through off-chain channel. These lotteries will be drawn according to a newly designed probabilistic payment algorithm. With this design, the data buyer only needs to make one deposit to concurrently trade with multiple data owners, which can mitigate griefing attacks and further reduce transaction fees. In addition, we have introduced an off-chain committee and carefully designed a smart contract to ensure the security of off-chain transactions meanwhile eliminating the interaction of data owners, making the scheme more suitable for large-scale IoT data trading scenarios. Finally, we deploy the scheme in local environment as well as on the public test chain of Ethereum and conduct a series of experiments to confirm its efficiency and effectiveness.
... More generally, randomness in smart contracts must be managed carefully. This problem is actively researched, and some of the main techniques to address it are based on multiparty computation [49]. ...
In the evolving context of distributed ledger technologies, the standardization of smart contracts is necessary. Smart contracts are tamper-proof computer programs. Due to their security and flexibility, it is possible to exploit smart contracts in a wide variety of use cases. In particular, it could be possible to automate legally recognized contracts by leveraging smart contracts. To this extent, some standards regarding the proper management of smart contracts are surging. However, there are still many technological misconceptions regarding smart contracts. This study describes smart contracts from multiple perspectives and identifies and clarifies some of the most common misconceptions regarding smart contracts. This study also provides some guidelines and insights on the proper management of smart contracts. This study can be a valuable resource for future standards on smart contracts.
... Random Number Generators (RNGs) are an essential ingredient for many applications such as telecommunications [1][2][3], cryptography [4,5], simulations [6,7], games [8], and quantum technologies such as Quantum Key Distribution [9][10][11], quantum imaging [12,13], and quantum radar [14,15], etc. There are two general types of RNGs based on their mechanism: pseudorandom number generators (PRNGs) which use mathematical algorithms to generate random numbers from an initial seed [16,17], and true random number generators (TRNGs) which extracts random numbers from a physical process [18,19]. ...
In this paper, we have fabricated two quantum random number generators (QRNGs) based on different mechanisms. The first one is based on the photon time of arrival and produces high-quality random numbers without the need for post-processing but using expensive equipment. The second one is based on the tunneling effect in a Zener diode and produces random strings with comparable quality but using low-cost equipment. We then evaluated the random sequences from these QRNGs using a set of statistical tests and showed that they are suitable for special applications such as quantum technologies.
... They are particularly popular because their rules are stored within the blockchain and are, therefore, transparent for all the participants [5]. There is a distinction between fully decentralized implemented games and a traditional game design approach paired with blockchain technology [6]. The former is characterized by a simple game structure, with clear rules and low complexity. ...
Games based on a blockchain exist in all variants and facets, mostly as single- or multiplayer games. This chapter deals with the implementation of a multiplayer strategy game (Connect Four), using blockchain technology for decentralized data storage and the entire game logic. The focus is on the use of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) principle, for coordination and voting within the teams. The chosen game just stands as an example; other games or gamification approaches in which users can take decisions collaboratively can be used here. A web application was implemented acting as a central interface between players and the blockchain. Hence, it was possible for players to compete against each other in teams and to collectively decide the next move by participating in a roundly voting. With the help of a standardized questionnaire, answered by each player after each match, possible impacts of the voting mechanism on the usability were determined.
... Authors in [5] addressed the problem of data manipulation by the game providers and designed algorithms to prevent human manipulation, which allows all the participants to be involved in the generation of random numbers. It has three actors: players, game providers (GP), and a blockchain. ...
Recent advances in blockchain gained significant social attention, mainly due to substantial price fluctuations of Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies. By its design, blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way, providing solutions for many complex tasks without third party involvement. To achieve that, they employ a set of Byzantine Fault-tolerant consensus algorithms that require the implemented logic to be deterministic. The lacking source of randomness is a consequential limitation since many application domains, like games, lotteries, or random elections, require random sources. Given the Byzantine Fault-tolerance, generating random numbers should also be publicly-verifiable and tamper-resistant, but still hold the premises of being unpredictable.In this paper, we will provide an overview of the current research surrounding pseudo-random number generation on a decentralized network that satisfies those requirements.
Blockchain video games, specifically video games using blockchain technology, are a trending topic in the media, technology community and business world. While blockchain video games are expected to transform the industry, little is known about how they are played and the players accordingly. The paper presents a 3-stage literature overview study on blockchain video games combining methods of topic modelling, bibliometric analysis, and narrative literature review. In a systematic approach, 1883 articles are screened. Language models are built on 1246 papers, and 70 articles directly related to blockchain video games have been analysed. The results indicate that most recent studies focus on blockchain technology and its financial characteristics instead of players. Hence, more play-oriented blockchain video game research is needed. Future studies may focus on different types of blockchain video games, game design and playability, players' experiences, and critical reviews.
Blockchain has attracted tremendous attention in recent years due to its significant features including anonymity, security, immutability, and audibility. Blockchain technology has been used in several nonmonetary applications, including Internet-of-Things. Though blockchain has limited resources, and scalability is computationally expensive, resulting in delays and large bandwidth overhead that are unsuitable for many IoT devices. In this paper, we work on a lightweight blockchain approach that is suited for IoT needs and provides end-to-end security. Decentralization is achieved in our lightweight blockchain implementation by building a network with a lot of high-resource devices collaborate to maintain the blockchain. The nodes in the network is arranged in sorted order w.r.t execution time and count to reduce the mining overheads and is accountable for handling the public blockchain. We propose a distributed execution time-based consensus algorithm that decreases the delay and overhead of the mining process. We also propose a randomized node-selection algorithm for the selection of nodes to verify the mined blocks to eliminate the double-spend and 51% attack. The results are encouraging and significantly reduce the mining overhead and keep a check on the double-spending problem and 51% attack.
In the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the adoption and recognition of blockchain technology. The increasing demand for blockchain technology has led to its swift development and widespread adoption across various sectors, including the gaming industry. The potential implications of this nascent technology in the realm of digital games are considerable, yet it is crucial to acknowledge the absence of scholarly investigations regarding blockchain games. To bridge the current research gap, this study's objective is to conduct an in-depth review of the potential uses of blockchain technology in gaming.
To conceal the actual output address, the stealth address protocol generates a one-time temporary output address for the blockchain. The user identity privacy is improved here by hiding the relationship between the input address and the actual output address. Many existing mechanisms like basic-stealth address, double-key stealth address (DKSAP), improved stealth address and perfected double-key stealth address were proposed earlier. But the commonly used double-key stealth address protocol (DKSAP) mandates that the sender delivers the temporary public key along with the transaction, making it possible for attackers to discriminate between stealth and non-stealth transactions and causing a privacy leakage risk. While in the perfected double-key, stealth address protocol, senders and receivers keep track of the number of transactions they have with other users in local transaction record databases. To prevent the temporary key for a transaction from being leaked, senders and receivers generate a temporary key pair based on the number of transactions that have happened between them. We propose a randomized addressing model, where the sender creates a one-time address for every transaction based on their last transaction id and the public key of the receiver which restricts the attacker to track the user identity and transaction information. To improve the real estate technology via the blockchain, the proposed model is deployed in a blockchain-based commercial real estate platform. Finally, we verify the proposed protocol by comparing it with the existing techniques in terms of different performance metrics. Based on the security analysis results obtained, the proposed methodology tends to be efficient in terms of privacy protection, receiver anonymity, copyright protection, and anti-tampering.
Decentralized apps offer users significant advantages. One main advantage is that the content belongs to the users. Although decentralized apps have been developed, decentralized multiplayer games have still been a challenge. This research work is therefore based on the question: Is it possible to create a turn-based real-time online multiplayer game based on decentralized applications on blockchain targeting the mobile market? This question is answered by the successful development of a decentralized online multiplayer game based on a blockchain.
Blockchain technology has attracted tremendous attention in both academia and capital market. However, overwhelming speculations on thousands of available cryptocurrencies and numerous initial coin offering (ICO) scams have also brought notorious debates on this emerging technology. This paper traces the development of blockchain systems to reveal the importance of decentralized applications (dApps) and the future value of blockchain.We survey the state-of-the-art dApps and discuss the direction of blockchain development to fulfill the desirable characteristics of dApps. The readers will gain an overview of dApp research and get familiar with recent developments in the blockchain.
Today's vehicles are becoming cyber-physical systems that do not only communicate with other vehicles but also gather various information from hundreds of sensors within them. These developments help create smart and connected (e.g., self-driving) vehicles that will introduce significant information to drivers, manufacturers, insurance companies and maintenance service providers for various applications. One such application that is becoming crucial with the introduction of self-driving cars is the forensic analysis for traffic accidents. The utilization of vehicle-related data can be instrumental in post-accident scenarios to find out the faulty party, particularly for self-driving vehicles. With the opportunity of being able to access various information on the cars, we propose a permissioned blockchain framework among the various elements involved to manage the collected vehicle-related data. Specifically, we first integrate Vehicular Public Key Management (VPKI) to the proposed blockchain to provide membership establishment and privacy. Next, we design a fragmented ledger that will store detailed data related to vehicle such as maintenance information/history, car diagnosis reports, etc. The proposed forensic framework enables trustless, traceable and privacy-aware post-accident analysis with minimal storage and processing overhead.
Figure 1 A future smart vehicle utilizing a wireless vehicle interface (WVI) to interconnect the vehicle and its vehicular bus systems to the Internet. Future smart vehicles will be part of the Internet of Things to offer beneficial development opportunities for both end users as well as the automotive industry. This will potentially expose smart vehicles to a range of security and privacy threats such as tracking or hijacking a vehicle while driving. A comprehensive security architecture for automotive systems is required to allow the development of new services while protecting the vehicles from attacks and ensuring the privacy of the end users. In this paper we argue that BlockChain (BC), a disruptive technology that has found many applications from cryptocurrency to smart contracts, is a potential solution to automotive security and privacy challenges. We propose a BC-based architecture to protect the privacy of the users and to increase the security of the vehicular ecosystem. Wireless remote software updates and other emerging services in the automotive world such as dynamic vehicle insurance fees, are used to illustrate the utilization of the proposed security architecture. We also provide discussions on the security of the architecture against important attacks.
Blockchain technology is a core, underlying technology with promising application prospects in the banking industry. On one hand, the banking industry in China is facing the impact of interest rate liberalization and profit decline caused by the narrowing interest-rate spread. On the other hand, it is also affected by economic transformation, Internet development, and financial innovations. Hence, the banking industry requires urgent transformation and is seeking new growth avenues. As such, blockchains could revolutionize the underlying technology of the payment clearing and credit information systems in banks, thus upgrading and transforming them. Blockchain applications also promote the formation of “multi-center, weakly intermediated” scenarios, which will enhance the efficiency of the banking industry. However, despite the permissionless and self-governing nature of blockchains, the regulation and actual implementation of a decentralized system are problems that remain to be resolved. Therefore, we propose the urgent establishment of a “regulatory sandbox” and the development of industry standards.
Nowadays, the development of traditional business models become more and more mature that people use them to guide various kinds of E-business activities. Internet of things (IoT), being an innovative revolution over the Internet, becomes a new platform for E-business. However, old business models could hardly fit for the E-business on the IoT. In this article, we 1) propose an IoT E-business model, which is specially designed for the IoT E-business; 2) redesign many elements in traditional E-business models; 3) realize the transaction of smart property and paid data on the IoT with the help of P2P trade based on the Blockchain and smart contract. We also experiment our design and make a comprehensive discuss.
EVCE computing is an attractive network paradigm involving seamless connections among heterogeneous vehicular contexts. It will be a trend along with EVs becoming popular in V2X. The EVs act as potential resource infrastructures referring to both information and energy interactions, and there are serious security challenges for such hybrid cloud and edge computing. Context-aware vehicular applications are identified according to the perspectives of information and energy interactions. Blockchain-inspired data coins and energy coins are proposed based on distributed consensus, in which data contribution frequency and energy contribution amount are applied to achieve the proof of work. Security solutions are presented for securing vehicular interactions in EVCE computing.
Although the best-known use of blockchain technology (BCT) is in the field of economics and cryptocurrencies in general, its usefulness is extending to other fields, including the biomedical field. The purpose of this article is to clarify the role that BCT can play in the field of medicine. We have performed a narrative review of the literature on BCT in general and on medicine in particular. The great advantage of BCT in the health arena is that it allows development of a stable and secure data set with which users can interact through transactions of various types. This environment allows the entry and operation of clinical data without compromising other sensitive data. Another important advantage of BCT is that the entire network is decentralized and is maintained by the users themselves; thus, there is no need to rely on organizations for storage. The Blockchain code is open source and can be used, modified and revised by its users. BCT literature is scarce so far. This article describes the basics of this technology and summarizes the various aspects in which BCT could change the paradigm of current medicine. The great potential of BCT, as well as its many applications in the field of health sciences, encompasses the fields of legal medicine, research, electronic medical records, medical data analysis (big data), teaching and the regulation of payment for medical services. If technological advances continue along these lines, it could bring about a revolution in medicine as we know it.
Modern Fog network architectures, empowered by Internet of Things (IoT) applications and 5G communications technologies are characterized by the presence of a huge number of mobile nodes, which undergo frequent handovers, introducing a significant load on the involved network entities. Considering
the distributed and flat nature of these architectures, Distributed Mobility Management (DMM) can be the only viable option for efficiently managing handovers in these scenarios. The existing DMM solutions are capable of providing smooth handovers, but lack of robustness from the security point-of-view. Indeed, DMM depends on external mechanisms for handover-security and uses a centralized device, which the obvious security and performance implications in flat architectures where hierarchical dependencies can introduce problems. We propose a new DMM schema based on the blockchain, capable of resolving hierarchical security issues without affecting the network layout, and also satisfying fully-distributed security requirements with lesser consumption of energy.
Blockchain is the basic technology of bitcoin. With the value appreciation and stable operation of bitcoin, blockchain is attracting more and more attention in many areas. Blockchain has the characteristics of decentralization, stability, security, and non-modifiability. It has the potential to change the network architecture. The consensus algorithm plays a crucial role in maintaining the safety and efficiency of blockchain. Using a right algorithm may bring a significant increase to the performance of blockchain application. In this paper, we reviewed the basic principles and characteristics of the consensus algorithms and analyzed the performance and application scenarios of different consensus mechanisms. We also gave a technical guidance of selecting a suitable consensus algorithm and summarized the limitations and future development of blockchain technology.
The banking and financial-services industry has taken notice of blockchain technology’s many advantages. This special issue explores its unlikely origins, tremendous impact, implementation challenges, and enormous potential. The web extra at https://youtu.be/wPFxKnlu1bA features R3’s Tim Swanson as he interviews global experts on blockchain technology for finance.
The financial technology (FinTech) sector sees high potential value in cryptocurrency blockchain protocols, or distributed-ledger technology (DLT). However, the requirements and guarantees of blockchains for cryptocurrencies do not match those of FinTech—from transaction throughput to security primitives and privacy. The author explores how blockchain research beyond Bitcoin is closing these gaps and some of the challenges that remain.
This paper evaluates blockchain's roles in strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy. Since most of the data is currently stored in cloud data centers, it also compares how blockchain performs vis-vis the cloud in various aspects of security and privacy. Key underlying mechanisms related to the blockchain's impacts on the Internet of Things (IoT) security are also covered. From the security and privacy considerations, it highlights how blockchain-based solutions could possibly be, in many aspects, superior to the current IoT ecosystem, which mainly relies on centralized cloud servers through service providers. Using practical applications and real-world examples, the paper argues that blockchain's decentralized feature is likely to result in a low susceptibility to manipulation and forgery by malicious participants. Special consideration is also given to how blockchain-based identity and access management systems can address some of the key challenges associated with IoT security. The paper provides a detailed analysis and description of blockchain's roles in tracking the sources of insecurity in supply chains related to IoT devices. The paper also delves into how blockchain can make it possible to contain an IoT security breach in a targeted way after it is discovered. It discusses and evaluates initiatives of organizations, inter-organizational networks and industries on this front. A number of policy implications are discussed. First, in order to strengthen IoT, regulators can make it obligatory for firms to deploy blockchain in supply chain, especially in systems that are mission critical, and have substantial national security and economic benefits. Second, public policy efforts directed at protecting privacy using blockchain should focus on providing training to key stakeholders and increasing investment in this technology. Third, one way to enrich the blockchain ecosystem would be to turn attention to public-private partnerships. Finally, national governments should provide legal clarity and more information for parties to engage in smart contracts that are enforceable.
Energy internet has become a hotspot attracting academia's close attention. Under this circumstance, participation of prosumers will result in a new business mode and electricity will be traded between these prosumers directly. These transactions can be managedeither by an established central operator or by market participants autonomously. Establishing a central operator will lead to a lot of problems, including high cost, low information security and personal privacy leakage. However, trust problem is hard to solve in autonomous management of transactions between market participants. Blockchain is a distributed storage technology where data is stored and managed in every node in the network and is difficult to tamper. Therefore, it can deal with trust problem. This paper proposes a method of managing electricity transactions based on blockchain. Transactions are stored on blockchain in form of smart contracts and money is transferred automatically. Electric data collected by smart meters is also stored on blockchain. An independent central operator only deals with congestion management problem. The paper also improves convergence stability in distributed security checking method. A case consisting of six nodes is presented to prove feasibility of the method.
Blockchain is a distributed sharing database technology. Its applications are in the ascendant in various fields. The characteristics of blockchain technique, decentralization, transparency, fairness and openness, are consistent with the spirit of Energy Internet. The blockchain technique would therefore substantially contribute to the implementation of Energy Internet. The basic principle and characteristics of blockchain technique were firstly introduced. The possible applications of blockchain in Energy Internet were then analyzed from three dimensions-function, entity and property. Four functions of blockchain, the measurement and authentication, trading, coordinating and financing, were elaborated on different entities of Energy Internet including generation, transmission, consumption and storage, from the prospective of energy, information and value. Four specific scenarios were designed to further illustrate its application, including authentication of carbon emission right, securing cyber-physical system, trading virtual power resources, and coordinating multi-energy system. Finally, the challenges of blockchain technique faced in the Energy Internet were summarized.
Is it possible to design an online protocol for playing a lottery, in a completely decentralized way, that is, without relying on a trusted third party? Or can one construct a fully decentralized protocol for selling secret information, so that neither the seller nor the buyer can cheat in it? Until recently, it seemed that every online protocol that has financial consequences for the participants needs to rely on some sort of a trusted server that ensures that the money is transferred between them. In this work, we propose to use Bitcoin (a digital currency, introduced in 2008) to design such fully decentralized protocols that are secure even if no trusted third party is available. As an instantiation of this idea, we construct protocols for secure multiparty lotteries using the Bitcoin currency, without relying on a trusted authority. Our protocols guarantee fairness for the honest parties no matter how the loser behaves. For example, if one party interrupts the protocol, then her money is transferred to the honest participants. Our protocols are practical (to demonstrate it, we performed their transactions in the actual Bitcoin system) and in principle could be used in real life as a replacement for the online gambling sites.
Architecture of the hyperledger blockchain fabric
- C Cachin
C. Cachin, "Architecture of the hyperledger blockchain fabric,", 2016.