To Infinity and Beyond: Encryption to the Future!
Introducing the first EtF network in the Polkadot ecosystem.
Overview
“Data is the new oil” (͡ ͡° ͜ つ ͡͡°)
If you’ve come across any discussions on ‘decentralized data’ in recent years, you’ve likely encountered that common comparison. However, I disagree. While data, like oil, can be extracted, refined, and treated as a scarce asset, it doesn’t adhere to the same fundamental principles. In fact, data is far from a scarce commodity — it is abundantly available and effortlessly replicated, capable of being transmitted worldwide within seconds. Unlike oil, data is electric, instantaneous, and lacks the crude characteristics of oil.
In an ideal decentralized network for data security, ownership, and exchange, the true value lies in its ability to ensure data follows the expectations set by its owners, rather than imposing artificial limitations on its availability and utility (e.g. when data exists in a centralized database owned by some platform or company). By emphasizing the control and sovereignty of data owners, a decentralized system can unleash the full potential of data without creating artificial scarcity. It embraces the notion that data should be governed by the intentions and preferences of its rightful owners, fostering a more inclusive and empowering environment where data can be utilized freely and ethically.
The web3 space is witnessing a surge in decentralized data platforms, services, chains, and dapps, each with varying levels of trust, decentralization, and security. While some platforms associate data representation with on-chain ownership, often through NFTs, many lack robust data protection measures. Consequently, these platforms fall short in providing genuine ownership and control over data in the online realm. Even though you may possess the NFT, the underlying asset remains publicly accessible and possibly susceptible to alterations. Presently, there is a void in a comprehensive decentralized mechanism that ensures secure data access for a broad audience while effectively controlling its availability.
To address these limitations, we need a more sophisticated solution — Encryption-to-the-Future (EtF). EtF takes diverse forms, but the fundamental concept remains consistent: encrypt data for some future time, enabling automatic decryption at the designated time. By implementing EtF, we pave the way for a more advanced and secure approach to decentralized data protection and access.
At Ideal Labs, we’re building Cryptex (name pending…), a decentralized encryption-to-the-future blockchain. Our blockchain uses advanced cryptographic mechanisms to let messages be encrypted to future epochs.
Stay informed on the latest development by checking out our github or joining our discord.
Use Cases
EtF, as a primitive, has a large number of “real-world” use cases, as well as many technical ones. Some simple use cases revolve around sealed-bid lotteries and voting applications, where the bid, or the vote, can remain secret until a certain point in the future (which marks the end of the lottery).
EtF can be particularly useful when complying with data protection regulations or retaining information until legal or contractual obligations expire. For example, by encrypting the terms of the agreement until a specified future date, organizations handling digital contracts and agreements can ensure that all parties involved have confidence that the document remains secure and tamper-proof until it becomes enforceable or publicly accessible.
Moreover, protocols built using EtF can extend far beyond encryption. It opens doors to innovative possibilities in various domains, from secure contracts and agreements that self-execute on predetermined dates to preserving the integrity of intellectual creations until a scheduled unveiling.
How it works
At the most basic level, our EtF blockchain Cryptex works by integrating identity based signatures into the blockchain’s consensus mechanism.
An identity based cryptosystem (IBC) is a set of six algorithms: setup, keygen, encrypt, decrypt, sign, verify. In an IBC, data can be encrypted to an identity, while signature verification verifies if an identity signed the message. In our mechanism, we assign a unique identity to each slot in the consensus mechanism, which lets us calculate an aggregated epoch identity and, by doing so, use threshold secret sharing techniques combined with the identity based encryption scheme to enable threshold identity based encryption, which ensures that your message will be decrypted by the end of the epoch with a very high probability.
A well known identity based encryption scheme is the Boneh-Franklin IBE. For the curious, here’s how it works in action. There are many more technical details to how the EtF implementation functions. Hop into our discord and let us know if you’re curious.
The Blockchain
Putting it all together now, we are building an EtF blockchain that uses IBS BLS block seals. By combining identity based encryption (IBE), verifiable random functions (VRF), and other advanced cryptographic techniques, Our blockchain allows messages to be encrypted for future epochs. Encryption and decryption capabilities come for free with the network, piggybacking on the underlying identity based cryptosystem. With this, we can build more powerful decentralized data tools and protocols (like non-interactive secret sharing), making the internet just a little more fair for everyone.
Join us
Stay tuned for more updates, as the project is under active development. If you’re interested in collaborating or just want to ask how my cat is doing, come say hi in our discord: https://discord.gg/2cVpGfSzmC
We’ve also published this same article in our substack here.
