Transaction Verification Using a Centralized Root of Trust
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transaction verification systems face inefficiencies in both centralized and decentralized models, with centralized systems lacking transparency and decentralised systems requiring excessive user verification, leading to energy and time inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a centralised root of trust with a subset of trusted users who issue tokens for verification, requiring a predetermined proportion of these users to verify transactions centrally before they are recorded in a centralised ledger.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a decentralised model (blockchain) is used to ensure data integrity, then transparency and trust are improved, but energy consumption and verification time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the verification function by dividing users into two distinct groups: trusted users who perform verification and non-trusted users who initiate transactions. This segmentation allows only a specific subset of users (trusted users) to perform the computationally intensive verification work, rather than requiring all network participants to verify every transaction, thereby reducing overall energy consumption while maintaining decentralised verification.
Solution Approach 2:
Trusted users act as intermediaries between non-trusted users and the centralised ledger. Non-trusted users submit transactions to trusted users, who then verify and record them. This intermediary role eliminates the need for all users to directly verify transactions, reducing the computational burden and energy consumption associated with decentralised verification while preserving transparency through the trusted user layer.
2Reliability
If a decentralised model (blockchain) is used to ensure data integrity, then transparency is improved, but verification time and computational burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the user base into trusted and non-trusted categories, the system assigns verification responsibilities only to trusted users. This reduces the number of verification nodes from potentially thousands to a manageable subset, thereby decreasing verification time and computational burden while maintaining the reliability benefits of decentralised verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs partial verification by requiring only a predetermined proportion of trusted users to verify each transaction rather than requiring all trusted users or all network participants to verify every transaction. This partial action approach significantly reduces verification time and computational overhead while still ensuring adequate transaction validation through the trusted user cohort.
3Productivity
If a centralised system is used to verify transactions, then verification efficiency is improved, but transparency and public auditability decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The trusted users serve as an intermediary layer that preserves transparency in a centralised system. While the ledger itself is centralised and controlled by a single institution, trusted users independently verify transactions and can audit the ledger, maintaining public transparency and trust. This intermediary verification layer prevents complete opacity while allowing centralised efficient processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments control and verification functions: the centralised institution manages the ledger infrastructure for efficiency, while trusted users perform independent verification to maintain transparency. This functional segmentation allows the centralised system to achieve high verification efficiency while preserving public auditability through the separate trusted user verification process.
4Reliability
If all users verify transactions in a decentralised model, then data integrity is improved, but computational burden and energy costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the computationally intensive verification task and assigns it exclusively to trusted users, while non-trusted users only need to submit transactions. This segmentation eliminates the need for ordinary users to run full verification nodes, dramatically reducing the computational burden and device complexity requirements for typical participants while maintaining robust transaction integrity through the trusted user verification layer.
Data Source
AI summary
There is disclosed a method of verifying transactions comprising assigning ‘trusted status’ a subset of users, the subset of trusted users defining a centralised root of trust, issuing one or more tokens from the centralised root of trust to users, submitting a transaction involving at least one token for verification by each of the subset of trusted users, determining whether or not a transaction is centrally verified based on whether or not a predetermined proportion of the trusted users have individually verified the transaction or not, and wherein if the transaction is centrally verified the transaction is recorded to a centralised ledger, and wherein if the transaction is not centrally verified, the transaction is not recorded to the centralised ledger. There is also disclosed a system for verifying transactions according to the above method.