Generic Privacy Preserving Private Permissioned Blockchains

Abstract

Private permissioned blockchains are becoming gradually more sought-after. Such systems are reachable by authorized users, and tend to be completely transparent to whoever interacts with the blockchain. In this paper, we mitigate the latter. Authorized users can now stay unlinked to the transaction they propose in the blockchain while being authenticated before being allowed to interact. As a first contribution, we developed a consensus algorithm for private permissioned blockchains based on Hyperledger Fabric and the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus. Building on this blockchain, five additional variations achieving various client-wise privacy preserving levels are proposed. These different protocols allow for different use cases and levels of privacy control and sometimes its revocation by an authority. All our protocols guarantee the unlinkability of transactions to their issuers achieving anonymity or pseudonymity. Miners can also inherit some of the above privacy preserving setting. Naturally, we maintain liveness and safety of the system and its data.