Blockchain Trading Data Concealment With Off-Chain Access Rights

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing blockchain systems struggle with managing confidentiality of trading data as the number of transactions and participants increases, leading to complex key management and increased risk of data exposure due to potential decryption.

Innovation Solution

An electronic trading system where metadata is stored as a distributed ledger, and actual data is stored only in management nodes involved in the transaction, with access rights managed through metadata, reducing the need for encryption key management and minimizing storage capacity.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If encryption technology is used to guarantee trading confidentiality in blockchain, then data security is improved, but key management complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata securityVSAvoidkey management complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the actual trading data from the blockchain distributed ledger, storing only hash values on-chain while keeping sensitive data off-chain. This separation removes the need for complex encryption key management for each transaction while maintaining data confidentiality. The actual data is stored in a secure off-chain storage system, and only cryptographic hashes are distributed across the blockchain nodes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments trading data into two parts: cryptographic hash values stored on the blockchain for verification and integrity, and actual sensitive data stored off-chain for confidentiality. This segmentation allows the system to maintain blockchain's transparency and verification capabilities while protecting sensitive information without requiring complex encryption key management for every node.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If all nodes store complete trading data on blockchain, then data integrity is improved, but storage capacity requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata integrityVSAvoidstorage capacity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSVolume of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts actual trading data from the blockchain storage, keeping only essential hash values and metadata on-chain. This dramatically reduces the storage capacity required at each node while maintaining data integrity through cryptographic verification. The full trading data is stored off-chain in a distributed or centralized secure storage system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Reliability

If encryption keys are managed for each transaction, then data confidentiality is improved, but management difficulty increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata confidentialityVSAvoidmanagement difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent removes the need for per-transaction encryption key management by extracting actual data from the blockchain. Instead of encrypting each transaction with unique keys, the system uses cryptographic hashes to ensure data integrity and stores sensitive information off-chain where access control can be managed more efficiently through smart contracts or centralized authorization mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP3996024B1Electronic trading system and data concealment method for electronic trading system
Publication Date: 2026.05.06 HITACHI LTD
  • EP3996024B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3996024B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3996024B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

In an electronic trading system in which a blockchain managing an electronic trading of a trading target is managed by a plurality of nodes, each of the plurality of nodes includes: a first storage unit storing a distributed ledger of the blockchain; and a second storage unit storing content of the trading target to be concealed as actual data in nodes other than a specific node constituting the blockchain. The distributed ledger stored in the first storage unit is stored in all of the plurality of nodes managing the blockchain and is shared by all of the plurality of nodes. The second storage unit of the specific node among the plurality of nodes stores the actual data of the trading target, sets an access right to the actual data stored in the specific node, and stores the access right in the distributed ledger.