Project Description

This project focuses on building secure decentralized applications, in particular those around blockchains and related technologies. For instance, an early research outcome was Bitforest, a blockchain-based PKI that allows for centralized name administration and efficient lookups, but enforces security without trusting any authority. Some of the other onoing research works include Elasticoin, a low-volatility cryptocurrency issuance scheme, and Astrape, an anonymous payment channel construction. This project is also exploring the concept of a minimal blockchain that leaves most functionality to upper-layer applications.

Related Publications

• Y. Dong, I. Goldberg, S. Gorbunov, and R. Boutaba. Astrape: Anonymous Payment Channels with Boring Cryptography. 20th International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security (ACNS). Rome, Italy, June 20-23, 2022.
• Y. Dong and R. Boutaba. Melmint: trustless stable cryptocurrency. The Cryptoeconomic Systems 2020 (CryptoEconSys 20). Boston, MA, USA, March 7-8, 2020.
• Y. Dong and R. Boutaba. Elasticoin: Low-Volatility Cryptocurrency with Proofs of Sequential Work. IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC). Seoul, South Korea, May 14-17, 2019.
• Y. Dong, W. Kim, R. Boutaba. Bitforest: a portable and efficient blockchain-based naming system. IEEE/ACM/IFIP Conference on Network and Service Management (CNSM) (Mini-conference). Rome, Italy. November 5-9, 2018.
• Y. Dong, W. Kim, R. Boutaba. Conifer: centrally-managed PKI with blockchain-rooted trust. IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (Blockchain-2018). Halifax, Canada, Jul 30, 2018 - Aug 3, 2018. Recipient of the Best Student Paper Award.

Sponsors and Partners