Blockchain Transaction Co-Dependence for Atomic Bidirectional Transfers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing blockchain systems face challenges in ensuring that both parties fulfill their obligations in bidirectional transactions, particularly when one party absconds with assets without providing the agreed consideration.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilizes a trusted third party to verify and conditionally release multiple transactions on a peer-to-peer distributed ledger, ensuring that both transactions are dependent on each other for execution, using multi-signature transactions and metadata to enforce these conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single transaction is recorded on the blockchain without conditional verification, then the transaction can be executed quickly and simply, but one party may abscond with assets without fulfilling their obligation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines two separate transactions (Alice to Bob and Bob to Alice) into a single atomic transaction unit on the blockchain. This merged transaction structure ensures that both obligations are recorded together, making it impossible for one party to fulfill only their side of the agreement. The transaction includes multiple inputs and outputs representing different parties' obligations, and either all obligations are fulfilled or none are executed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a trusted third party (such as a lawyer or escrow service) as an intermediary to verify and validate the transaction before it is recorded on the blockchain. This intermediary checks that both parties have fulfilled their obligations and provides a signature or approval that enables the transaction to be executed. This mediator layer adds reliability to the transaction without requiring complex smart contract logic.
2Reliability
If multiple transactions are recorded separately on the blockchain, then each transaction can be validated independently, but there is no guarantee that both parties fulfill their obligations simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple transactions into a single atomic transaction that is processed simultaneously. By combining the payment from Alice to Bob and the delivery from Bob to Alice into one transaction record, the system ensures that both obligations are fulfilled at the same time. The transaction structure includes all necessary inputs, outputs, and conditions in a unified format that the blockchain validates as a single unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent requires that all transaction conditions and obligations be verified and prepared before the transaction is submitted to the blockchain. The trusted third party performs preliminary validation to ensure that both parties are ready to fulfill their obligations simultaneously. This preliminary action prevents the need for complex post-submission coordination and reduces the time loss associated with managing separate transactions.
3Reliability
If conditional logic is embedded in blockchain transactions to enforce bidirectional obligations, then transaction reliability improves, but the complexity of transaction validation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a trusted third party as an intermediary to handle the complex conditional validation logic. Instead of embedding complex smart contract code in the blockchain transaction, the third party manually or semi-automatically verifies the conditions and provides approval. This mediator approach maintains high reliability through thorough validation while keeping the blockchain transaction structure itself relatively simple and compatible with existing blockchain protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent structures the transaction so that the parties themselves provide evidence and information about their fulfillment of obligations. Alice and Bob each submit proof that they have met their conditions (such as payment confirmation or delivery evidence), and the trusted third party simply verifies these self-provided documents. This self-service approach reduces the complexity of the validation process by leveraging the parties' own information rather than requiring complex external verification systems.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are presented for a method and system of recording multiple transactions between a multiple of users on a blockchain. Steps may include: receiving a first request from a first node associated with a first user to transfer a first quantity of cryptocurrency associated with a first transaction and receiving a second request from a second node to transfer a second quantity associated with a second transaction, where the first transaction is conditional on receiving the second request and the second transaction is conditional on receiving the first request; verifying the first request and second request include determining both the conditional steps are satisfied; and based on the verifying, sending a data output to the blockchain to record the transfers of cryptocurrency associated with the first and second transactions.