Oracle-Driven Blockchain Privacy Using MPC and Authenticated Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing smart contract-based blockchain networks lack confidentiality, exposing sensitive information to the public, which hinders usability and adoption for real-world applications dealing with confidential data.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a privacy-preserving blockchain virtual machine (BVM) using a garbling scheme-based secure multi-party computation (MPC) protocol to encrypt and execute smart contract methods on confidential data without revealing it to other parties, combined with an authenticated memory and storage system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If all data is made publicly accessible to encourage decentralization, then network participation is improved, but confidentiality of sensitive information deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data into public and confidential portions, allowing different access levels. Confidential data is encrypted and stored separately from public transaction data, enabling the network to maintain both decentralization and privacy by treating different data types differently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces confidential computing environments and encryption mechanisms as intermediaries between the blockchain network and confidential data. These intermediaries allow the network to access and verify confidential data without actually exposing it to network participants, thus maintaining both participation and confidentiality.
2Loss of information
If confidential data is encrypted and processed using secure multi-party computation, then confidentiality is improved, but computational complexity and execution time deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary encryption of confidential data before it enters the blockchain network. By encrypting data in advance and using pre-established confidential computing environments, the system reduces the computational complexity during transaction execution, as the heavy cryptographic operations are performed beforehand rather than in real-time.
3Reliability
If confidential data is stored on-chain, then data availability is improved, but security and privacy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts confidential data from the public blockchain ledger and stores it in separate confidential storage mechanisms. Only cryptographic hashes or encrypted references to the confidential data are stored on-chain, while the actual confidential data resides in secure, access-controlled environments off the public ledger, thus maintaining data availability while preventing privacy exposure.
Data Source
AI summary
A novel blockchain network architecture and transaction processing workflow, collectively referred to as the oracle-driven blockchain approach, is disclosed. In certain embodiments, this approach enables a blockchain network to efficiently execute and validate transactions that require answers from an oracle by (1) separating block creation from transaction execution (such that each new block to be added to the network's blockchain is first created by one or more sequencing nodes before any of the transactions within the block are actually executed), and (2) ensuring that, as part of transaction execution, any output generated by the oracle which changes state is added to a transcript that is included within the block.