A privacy-preserving networked hospitality service with the bitcoin blockchain

Abstract

In recent years, we have witnessed a rise in the popularity of networked hospitality services (NHSs), an online marketplace for short-term peer-to-peer accommodations. Such systems, however, raise significant privacy concerns, because service providers such as Airbnb and 9flats can easily collect the precise and personal information of millions of participating hosts and guests through their centralized online platforms. In this paper, we propose PrivateNH, a privacy-enhancing and practical solution that offers anonymity and accountability for NHS users without relying on any trusted third party. PrivateNH leverages the recent progress of Bitcoin techniques such as Colored Coins and CoinShuffle to generate and maintain anonymous credentials for NHS participants. The credential holders (NHS hosts or guests) can then lease or rent short-term lodging and interact with the service provider in an anonymous and accountable manner. An anonymous and secure reputation system is also introduced to establish the trust between unfamiliar hosts and guests in a peer-to-peer fashion. The proposed scheme is compatible with the current Bitcoin blockchain system, and its effectiveness and feasibility in NHS scenario are also demonstrated by security analysis and performance evaluation.