Distributed Ledger Key Management for Loyalty Interoperability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing loyalty and rewards programs lack interoperability, as customer identifiers and points are specific to each program, preventing seamless exchange of points between programs and minimal interoperability between loyalty programs and unrelated merchants or third parties.
Innovation Solution
A system using permissioned distributed ledgers to securely generate and manage cryptographic keys, allowing for the creation of a loyalty and rewards ecosystem based on digital assets recorded within a cryptographically secure and permissioned distributed ledger, enabling interoperability between unrelated financial institutions and businesses by coupling customer identity with cryptographic identifiers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional centralized systems are used for loyalty programs, then each program can maintain its own customer identifiers and points, but interoperability between different loyalty programs and merchants is lost
Solution Approach 1:
A permissioned distributed ledger acts as an intermediary layer between different loyalty programs and merchants. The ledger records cryptographic keys and digital signatures that enable trustless verification across unrelated systems, allowing interoperability without requiring direct integration between each program pair.
Solution Approach 2:
The distributed ledger system provides universal functionality by serving multiple loyalty programs and merchants simultaneously. A single ledger infrastructure supports diverse applications including point accumulation, redemption, transfer, and verification across different ecosystems, eliminating the need for program-specific integration mechanisms.
2Reliability
If cryptographic keys are distributed across multiple systems, then security and immutability are improved, but key management and validation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service key management where each participant generates and manages their own cryptographic key pairs. The distributed ledger automatically validates signatures using public keys stored on the network, eliminating the need for centralized key management infrastructure while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The distributed ledger provides continuous feedback through consensus validation of digital signatures. Each transaction is verified by multiple nodes using cryptographic proof, creating a feedback loop that ensures security without requiring complex manual key management procedures.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed exemplary embodiments include computer-implemented systems, devices, and processes that securely distribute and manage cryptographic keys within a computing environment using permissioned distributed ledgers. By way of example, an apparatus may receive a registration request and a first digital signature applied to the registration request from a device. Based on a validation of the first digital signature, the apparatus may approve the registration request and apply a second digital signature to the registration request and the first digital signature. In some examples, the second digital signature may be indicative of the approval of the registration request by the apparatus. The apparatus may also transmit the registration request and the first and second digital signatures to a computing system, which may validate the first and second digital signatures and perform operations that record a public cryptographic key of an application program executed at the device onto a distributed ledger