Cross-blockchain protocol for public registries
International Journal of Web Information Systems
ISSN: 1744-0084
Article publication date: 29 October 2020
Issue publication date: 9 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a concept of the protocol for public registries based on blockchain. New database protocol aims to use the benefits of blockchain technologies and ensure their interoperability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is framed with design science research (DSR). The primary method is exaptation, i.e. adoption of solutions from other fields. The research is looking into existing technologies which are applied here as elements of the protocol: Name-Value Storage (NVS), Berkley DB, RAID protocol, among others. The choice of NVS as a reference technology for creating a database over blockchain is based on the analysis and comparison with two other similar technologies Bigchain and Amazon QLDB.
Findings
The proposed mechanism allows creating a standard database over a bundle of distributed ledgers. It ensures a blockchain agnostic approach and uses the benefits of various blockchain technologies in one ecosystem. In this scheme, blockchains play the role of journal storages (immutable log), whereas the overlaid database is the indexed storage. The distinctive feature of such a system is that in blockchain, users can perform peer-to-peer transactions directly in the ledger using blockchain native mechanism of user access management with public-key cryptography (blockchain does not require to administrate its database).
Originality/value
This paper presents a new method of creating a public peer-to-peer database across a bundle of distributed ledgers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper is an outcome of the PhD research performed inside of the Joint International Doctoral (PhD) Degree in Law, Science and Technology, coordinated by the University of Bologna, CIRSFID in cooperation with the University of Turin, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Tilburg University, Mykolas Romeris University, The University of Luxembourg. Thanks to supervisors Professor Marta Poblet Balcell, RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia) and Professor Pompeu Casanovas Romeu, La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia).
Thanks to the team of RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub for collaboration.
Thanks to Oleg Khovayko (CTO Emercoin, US) and Denis Dmitriev (CTO Emertech, Hong Kong), who took an active part in the discussion of the cross-blockchain protocol, provided their valuable advice. Oleg Khovayko shared his ideas on the use of redundancy (RAID) for cross-blockchain records, Denis Dmitriev suggested cross-references for records and helped with the analysis of a fault probability of the cross-blockchain system.
Compliance with Ethical Standards.
Funding: This study is not funded.
Conflict of Interest: Author declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by the author.
Informed consent: No individual participants included in the study.
Citation
Konashevych, O. (2020), "Cross-blockchain protocol for public registries", International Journal of Web Information Systems, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 571-610. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWIS-07-2020-0045
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited