An Anonymous Trust-Marking Scheme on Blockchain Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces an anonymous trust-marking scheme on blockchain systems that allows trusted entities to issue verifiable tokens indicating address trustworthiness, applicable across various cryptocurrencies, enhancing security and trust.

Contribution

It presents a universal, anonymous trust-marking scheme based on accountable ring signatures and commitments, applicable to multiple blockchain platforms like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and NEM.

Findings

Scheme is efficient on Curve25519

Applicable to Bitcoin, Ethereum, NEM

Ensures anonymity and accountability

Abstract

During the Coincheck incident, which recorded the largest damages in cryptocurrency history in 2018, it was demonstrated that using Mosaic token can have a certain effect. Although it seems attractive to employ tokens as countermeasures for cryptocurrency leakage, Mosaic is a specific token for the New Economy Movement (NEM) cryptocurrency and is not employed for other blockchain systems or cryptocurrencies. Moreover, although some volunteers tracked leaked NEM using Mosaic in the CoinCheck incident, it would be better to verify that the volunteers can be trusted. Simultaneously, if someone (e.g., who stole cryptocurrencies) can identify the volunteers, then that person or organization may be targets of them. In this paper, we propose an anonymous trust-marking scheme on blockchain systems that is universally applicable to any cryptocurrency. In our scheme, entities called token admitters are allowed to generate tokens adding trustworthiness or untrustworthiness to addresses. Anyone can anonymously verify whether these tokens were issued by a token admitter. Simultaneously, only the designated auditor and no one else, including nondesignated auditors, can identify the token admitters. Our scheme is based on accountable ring signatures and commitment, and is implemented on an elliptic curve called Curve25519, and we confirm that both cryptographic tools are efficient. Moreover, we also confirm that our scheme is applicable to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and NEM.