A Cost-Effective Approach to Securing Systems through Partial Decentralization

A study has been conducted on the methods of secure computation and storage decentralization, based on expert and decision support systems’ needs. It identified the common disadvantages of modern, Distributed Ledger Technologybased (DLT-based) decentralized systems and suggested a solution to it – the universal transaction delegation method. This method eliminates the complexity of a decentralized system from end-users’ point of view, which during the study was identified as the main disadvantage of DLT-based systems. This article provides a brief overview of existing approaches to solve the usage complexity problem, based on data from well-known projects built with Ethereum, the leading DLT-based smart contract platform. As a result of the research, we implemented the universal transaction delegation method which does not depend on the signature standard used in the decentralized program. In addition, we present results of an experimental economic analysis of the solution based on real network tests and data as of 2020. A R T I C L E I N F O : RECEIVED: 08 JUNE 2020 REVISED: 06 SEP 2020 ONLINE: 21 SEP 2020 K E Y W O R D S : distributed ledger technology, decentralized data platforms, delegated transactions, Ethereum, data platforms Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 N. Savchenko, V. Tsyganok & O. Andriichuk, ISIJ 47, no. 1 (2020): 109-121