Interaction mechanism between blockchain and IPFS

Abstract

: Blockchains can provide integrity and authenticity, but their limited storage capacity can be a challenge when it comes to storing large amounts of data. To address this issue, off-chain storage solutions such as the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) can be utilized. This has led to the emergence of various applications that utilize both blockchain and IPFS. After reviewing a large body of literature utilizing blockchain and IPFS, we found that the coordinated interaction between blockchain and IPFS can help solve many problems and provide many research opportunities. Therefore, this survey paper aims to introduce the interaction mechanism between blockchain and IPFS. We first provide a general overview and comparison of different P2P data networks to help understand why IPFS is suitable as the storage layer for blockchains. Subsequently, we use select applications that leverage blockchain and IPFS to show how the mechanism works and explore new developments in this area. Specifically, we identify research areas and provide a qualitative comparison of these different applications. From the comparison, we derive research goals related to the interaction mechanism between blockchain and IPFS.