Abstract
Objective
Managing training certificates is an important issue in research that can lead to
serious issues if not addressed properly. For institutions that currently do not have a
dedicated management system for these training certificates, a central database is the
most typical solution. However, such a system suffers from several risks, such as a
single-point-of-failure.
Materials and Methods
To address this issue, we developed and evaluated CertificateChain, a decentralized
training certificate management system by using peer-to-peer blockchain and automated
smart contracts. We developed an efficient certificate dividing-and-merging algorithm to
overcome the transaction size limit on blockchain.
Results
We performed experiments on the system to evaluate its performance, then created a web
app and tested the system in a real-world scenario. CertificateChain scaled linearly in
terms of time compared with the total number of certificates added and could be quickly
queried for existing data stored on-chain.
Discussion
CertificateChain was able to store and retrieve the training certificates on the
blockchain network, with limitations including a comparative analysis of other systems,
evaluation of different consensus protocols, examining certificates off-chain, a
thorough comparison with a centralized system, and the extension to the main public
Ethereum network.
Conclusion
We believe that these results indicate that blockchain technology could be a viable
decentralized alternative to traditional databases in this use case. Our software is
publicly available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6257094.
In many research scenarios, certifications are required for data access requests.
Institutions must manage the relevant certificates to avoid potentially serious scenarios
that could impede research. Most existing systems suffer from risks such as
single-point-of-failure, a scenario in which an entire system can be rendered ineffective
with the failure of only one node in the network. To solve this problem, we developed
CertificateChain, a decentralized certificate management system that adopted blockchain
and smart contract (programs running on blockchain) technology and stores the certificates
on-chain. To evaluate the system’s performance, we performed experiments on it by storing
Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) certificate files to test its
scalability and speed, as well as real-world testing using an accompanying web app. We
found that in terms of time, the system scaled linearly, and could quickly be searched for
any existing certificates. The limitations include the evaluation of other blockchain
consensus protocols, verification of certificate authenticity before and after uploading,
the scalability of upload file size, as well as an in-depth comparison to existing
centralized systems. After developing and evaluating the system, we believe that
CertificateChain shows potential to be a viable decentralized alternative for existing
centralized systems.
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