Mesh: A Supply Chain Solution with Locally Private Blockchain Transactions

Abstract

A major line of research on blockchains is geared towards enhancing the privacy of transactions through anonymity using generic non-interactive proofs. However, there is a good cluster of application scenarios where complete anonymity is not desirable and accountability is in fact required. In this work, we utilize non-interactive proofs of knowledge of elliptic curve discrete logarithms to present membership and verifiable encryption proof, which offers plausible anonymity when combined with the regular signing process of the blockchain transactions. The proof system requires no trusted setup, both its communication and computation complexities are linear in the number of set members, and its security relies on the discrete logarithm assumption. As a use-case for this scenario, we present Mesh which is a blockchain-based framework for supply chain management using RFIDs. Finally, the confidentiality of the transacted information is realized using a lightweight key chaining mechanism implemented on RFIDs. We formally define and prove the main security features of the protocol, and report on experiments for evaluating the performance of the modified transactions for this system.