Blockchain – The Gateway to Trust-Free Cryptographic Transactions

Recently, the Bitcoin-underlying blockchain technology gained prominence as a solution that offers the realization of distributed trust-free systems, where economic transactions are guaranteed by the underlying blockchain. We are still at an early stage and thus require a deeper understanding of how the blockchain potentials can be realized, and what are the opportunities and challenges in so doing. Following a design science approach, we developed a proof of concept prototype that has the poten-tial to replace a trust-based coffee shop payment solution that is based on an analogue, pre-paid punch card solution. The demonstrator provides a starting point to evaluate the strengths and weak-nesses of the blockchain technology when replacing a trust-based by a trust-free transaction system. We conclude that the secure and trust-free blockchain-based transaction has the potential to change many existing trust-based transaction systems, but that scalability issues, costs, and volatility in the transaction currency are hindrances

What Blockchain Technology Can Do to Contribute to Waqf

This article supports decision-makers for the use of blockchain technology in academies and industry in Indonesia, considering its advantages and disadvantages. Like the current Covid 19 pandemic, it is necessary to obtain accurate data in various economic sectors. Islamic economic instruments such as waqf are an important sector, proven to have played a significant role in socio-economy throughout history, as a philanthropic tool and contribute to Islamic civilization. If developed, managed and utilized properly, it can create sustainability for the community. A method that relies on previous literature, this qualitative paper aims to contribute to encouraging the government to use blockchain for waqf. We outline terms and concepts related to how blockchain works and theoretical trust to investigate how blockchain affects the role of trust in waqf transactions. The results using the SWOT framework, we discuss what emerges from blockchain technology in waqf. The conclusion of this study discusses how blockchain can contribute to waqf instruments based on a conceptual framework. We hope to stimulate interest in theory and practice to encourage discussion in this area

ENABLING IOT AUTHENTICATION, PRIVACY AND SECURITY VIA BLOCKCHAIN

Although low-power and Internet-connected gadgets and sensors are increasingly integrated into our lives, the optimal design of these systems remains an issue. In particular, authentication, privacy, security, and performance are critical success factors. Furthermore, with emerging research areas such as autonomous cars, advanced manufacturing, smart cities, and building, usage of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices is expected to skyrocket. A single compromised node can be turned into a malicious one that brings down whole systems or causes disasters in safety-critical applications. This dissertation addresses the critical problems of (i) device management, (ii) data management, and (iii) service management in IoT systems. In particular, we propose an integrated platform solution for IoT device authentication, data privacy, and service security via blockchain-based smart contracts. We ensure IoT device authentication by blockchain-based IC traceability system, from its fabrication to its end-of-life, allowing both the supplier and a potential customer to verify an IC’s provenance. Results show that our proposed consortium blockchain framework implementation in Hyperledger Fabric for IC traceability achieves a throughput of 35 transactions per second (tps). To corroborate the blockchain information, we authenticate the IC securely and uniquely with an embedded Physically Unclonable Function (PUF). For reliable Weak PUF-based authentication, our proposed accelerated aging technique reduces the cumulative burn-in cost by ∼ 56%. We also propose a blockchain-based solution to integrate the privacy of data generated from the IoT devices by giving users control of their privacy. The smart contract controlled trust-base ensures that the users have private access to their IoT devices and data. We then propose a remote configuration of IC features via smart contracts, where an IC can be programmed repeatedly and securely. This programmability will enable users to upgrade IC features or rent upgraded IC features for a fixed period after users have purchased the IC. We tailor the hardware to meet the blockchain performance. Our on-die hardware module design enforces the hardware configuration’s secure execution and uses only 2,844 slices in the Xilinx Zedboard Zynq Evaluation board. The blockchain framework facilitates decentralized IoT, where interacting devices are empowered to execute digital contracts autonomously