Make the Blockchain Decentralized Again: A Journey with TIP

When blockchain technology emerged, it brought a promise of decentralization — a vision of a world where power is distributed, transparency is paramount, and trust doesn’t rely on intermediaries. However, as the ecosystem evolved, some components became increasingly centralized, undermining the core ethos of blockchain. It’s time to address this challenge and make the blockchain decentralized again.

That’s why I’m so excited about Ternoa Integrity Proof (TIP). TIP is our way of tackling this issue head-on. It’s a framework that proves the code running on blockchain-powered services is exactly the same as its open-source version. By decentralizing key components like indexers, explorers, and provers, TIP restores integrity and builds the trust we need in the Web3 ecosystem.

The Challenge of Centralization in Blockchain

While blockchains themselves are decentralized, many of their essential services are not. I’ve seen how centralized indexers and explorers can create single points of failure, risking the integrity of data and contradicting the very principles blockchain was built on. It’s a challenge we can no longer ignore.

How TIP Works

Here’s how Ternoa Integrity Proof tackles this challenge: by leveraging Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), specifically Intel’s SGX enclaves, to ensure everything remains secure and fully verifiable.

1. Code Verification: Developers upload their open-source code, and TIP runs integrity tests in secure enclaves. This ensures the deployed code matches what’s in the repository.
2. Decentralized Provers: TIP deploys provers worldwide using SGX servers. These provers continually check for tampering or modifications, guaranteeing ongoing integrity.
3. Permissionless Trust: Using attestation mechanisms like RMI and hardware-based validation, TIP creates a decentralized system that doesn’t rely on any one entity to function.

Decentralization at Its Core

What excites me most about Ternoa Integrity Proof (TIP) is how it extends the trust and security of decentralized technology to traditionally centralized components.

• Bringing Decentralization’s Security to Centralized Components: TIP leverages its tamper-proof, decentralized technology to secure vital centralized infrastructure like indexers, explorers, and sequencers, ensuring they operate with the same trust and integrity as decentralized systems.
• Proving Integrity Everywhere: TIP empowers developers and users with verifiable proof that even centralized elements operate as intended, reinforcing trust across the entire stack.

Why SGX and TEEs?

You might be wondering: why SGX? TEEs like SGX provide a trusted execution environment that guarantees confidentiality and integrity for the processes they run. Features like remote attestation and hardware-level security ensure no external party — even the SGX owner — can tamper with the code.

A Decentralized Future

With TIP, I believe blockchain can return to its roots: a truly decentralized ecosystem where trust is inherent and integrity is provable. TIP isn’t just solving today’s problems — it’s setting the stage for a future where developers, users, and enterprises can build with confidence.

Conclusion

Decentralization isn’t just a concept to me — it’s the very foundation of blockchain’s promise. TIP by Ternoa is our bold step to restore that foundation by decentralizing key components and rebuilding trust through transparency and integrity.

Let’s re-decentralize blockchain, one component at a time.