Anonymous Leaderboard Using Encrypted Identities and NFTs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computer-managed leaderboards lack privacy features, as they explicitly identify participants, making it difficult for entities to remain anonymous while still being represented in rankings, which is undesirable in various contexts such as educational or employment settings.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an anonymous leaderboard system using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain technology, where entities are represented by encrypted identities, allowing for anonymous participation while maintaining immutable proof of identity and achievements, enabling entities to control when their identities are revealed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If current computer-managed leaderboards explicitly identify participants, then leaderboard functionality and ranking visibility are improved, but participant privacy and anonymity are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments identity information from leaderboard ranking data. Participants are represented by anonymous identifiers (e.g., UUIDs) in the leaderboard, while their real identities are stored separately and can only be linked through controlled revelation mechanisms. This segmentation allows the leaderboard to display rankings without exposing personal information, resolving the contradiction between visibility and privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary mechanism (controlled identity revelation) between the anonymous leaderboard entry and the participant's real identity. This intermediary allows participants to selectively reveal their identities to specific audiences or under specific conditions, enabling both anonymous competition and verified recognition without forcing full identity exposure at all times.
2Ease of operation
If encrypted identities are used in the leaderboard, then participant privacy is improved, but verification of identity and achievements is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic identity verification where the level of anonymity and verification is adjustable based on context. Participants can dynamically control their identity revelation settings, allowing them to be fully anonymous in some contexts while verified in others. This dynamic approach maintains reliability when needed while preserving privacy when appropriate, resolving the contradiction between these two requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of identity visibility from a fixed state to a variable state that can be adjusted by participants. By allowing participants to modify their anonymity parameters (e.g., reveal identity to administrators only, or to all users), the system maintains both strong privacy protection by default and reliable verification when required, depending on the configured parameter settings.
3Reliability
If blockchain technology is implemented for anonymous leaderboard, then immutability and security are improved, but system complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential elements needed for leaderboard functionality to the blockchain (anonymous identifiers, ranking data, achievement records) while keeping complex identity management and revelation logic in traditional backend systems. This extraction approach maintains data integrity through blockchain's immutability while avoiding the complexity of implementing full identity management on the blockchain, resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An anonymous leaderboard for a monitored computing environments is provided. In response to an entity registering with the monitored computing environment (MCE), an encrypted identity and a dynamic non-fungible token (NFT) are generated for the registered entity, where the dynamic NFT has an associated blockchain technology data structure. The blockchain technology data structure is associated with the encrypted identity. A progress element notification is received from the MCE in response to the entity satisfying criteria for a predefined progress element associated with the MCE. In response, a static NFT, corresponding to the predefined progress element, is generated and stored as a block in the blockchain technology data structure. An entry in an anonymous leaderboard output is generated based on the blockchain technology data structure, where the entry identifies the entity by the encrypted identity.