Название: Blockchain Gaps: From Myth to Real Life
Автор: Shin'ichiro Matsuo, Nat Sakimura
Издательство: Springer
Год: 2021
Страниц: 114
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true), epub
Размер: 10.2 MB

This book analyzes the fundamental issues faced when blockchain technology is applied to real-life applications. These concerns, not only in the realm of computer science, are caused by the nature of technological design. Blockchain is considered the foundation of a wide range of flexible ecosystems; its technology is an excellent mixture of mathematics, cryptography, incentive mechanisms, economics, and pertinent regulations. The book provides an essential understanding of why such fundamental issues arise, by revising the underlying theories.

Blockchain theory is thus presented in an easy-to-understand, useful manner. Also explained is the reason why blockchain is hard to adopt for real-life problems but is valuable as a foundation for flexible ecosystems. Included are directions for solving those problems and finding suitable areas for blockchain applications in the future.

It is justified to say that blockchain platforms, which take many different forms, can be classified from different perspectives. One of these perspectives is the concept of “public” and “private” blockchains. While its definition varies, a “public blockchain” can be roughly defined as a blockchain network that anyone can join and withdraw from. The best-known examples are Bitcoin and Ethereum. On the other hand, blockchain networks that place restrictions or conditions on joining are known as “private blockchains.” Some of these run a blockchain network within a closed network environment with limited external connections; others, like Hyperledger Fabric, use a platform equipped with an access control function. Because public and private blockchains operate using different environments and mechanisms, the issues involved often differ as well.

Asides from key management problems, specific cryptographic techniques such as digital signature schemes and hash functions are subject to be compromised over time. In some cases, design vulnerabilities may be found. The computational power of adversaries increases every day owing to the progress of computer technology. Hence, the time required to exhaustively search for the signing key is becoming shorter. Such situations are referred to as the “compromise of cryptographic techniques.”

For example, the IT industry incurred huge costs when transitioning from SHA-1 to SHA-2, after the compromise of SHA-1 was reported. Most of the bitcoin and blockchain engineers lacked the necessary experience to manage the compromise of their cryptographic techniques and to transition to the securer algorithm. No mechanisms or operations exist to deal with such transitions. One long-term issue is that of the quantum computer. When the quantum computer becomes capable of solving modern public-key cryptography using factoring and discrete logarithm problems, the digital signature schemes used in blockchain technologies will become insecure.

The authors of this work are experts from a wide range of backgrounds such as cryptography, distributed computing, computer science, trust, identity, regulation, and standardization. Their contributions collected here will appeal to all who are interested in blockchain and the elements surrounding it.