Blockchain-based Result Verification for Computation Offloading

TL;DR

This paper proposes a blockchain-based method utilizing zero-knowledge proofs to verify the correctness of offchain computation results, enhancing trust without high redundancy costs.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining blockchain and zero-knowledge proofs for result verification in distributed computation offloading.

Findings

Effective verification of offchain results using zero-knowledge proofs.

Reduced costs compared to redundancy-based verification methods.

Successful evaluation with the Traveling Salesman Problem.

Abstract

Offloading of computation, e.g., to the cloud, is today a major task in distributed systems. Usually, consumers which apply offloading have to trust that a particular functionality offered by a service provider is delivering correct results. While redundancy (i.e., offloading a task to more than one service provider) or (partial) reprocessing help to identify correct results, they also lead to significantly higher cost. Hence, within this paper, we present an approach to verify the results of offchain computations via the blockchain. For this, we apply zero-knowledge proofs to provide evidence that results are correct. Using our approach, it is possible to establish trust between a service consumer and arbitrary service providers. We evaluate our approach using a very well-known example task, i.e., the Traveling Salesman Problem.