DoraHacks, Cryptosat tests highly secure blockchain setups in space

Trust is a fundamental component of blockchain protocols and their ability to ensure highly secure and privacy-enabled setups that can reduce the presence of middlemen in transactions. By building a trusted environment that ensures security and transaction integrity, parties can conduct transactions in a peer-to-peer format and reliably receive accurate output. Nevertheless, implementing trusted environments depends on setting up a protocol that does not invite interference from malicious parties.

To improve protocol security, decentralization and scalability, satellite developer and operator Cryptosat teamed up with incentive platform and hackathon organizer DoraHacks to experiment with trusted setups in space. Conducted in conjunction with Nanoracks Europe, which has been offering commercial space services since 2009, the first experiment of its kind aboard the International Space Station (ISS) demonstrated that reliable setups could be generated in space. In this particular case, the space’s distance ensures greater security and decentralization compared to comparable ground-based services.

In this case, the experiment produced a Common Reference String (CSR), which drives a Zero-Knowledge proof responsible for managing user privacy and protecting the Dora Grant DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) voting system. The general idea behind a Zero-Knowledge proof is that one party does not need to share private information with another party to prove that a particular output is valid. Instead, this proof is provided cryptographically.

The trusted setup is the phase that generates the common reference string. A trusted setup is required to get to the validation stage, where at least two parties set the standards the Zero-Knowledge proof relies on to work. Without the trusted setup, a malicious user can upload their own CSR to a protocol, thereby invalidating the system’s trust.

In addition to securing the Dora Grant DAO’s voting mechanism to prevent collusion between voting parties and enabling user privacy, the experiment also demonstrated how Cryptosat’s low-Earth orbit nanosatellites could provide reliable setups to power other protocols and networks.

Proving the prowess of space-based computing

Founded in 2020, Cryptosat seeks to bring tamper-proof computational services to multiple markets, including blockchains, applications, protocols and services. Cryptosat, which raised $3 million in its 2022 seed round, including from DoraHacks, provides a secure cryptographic computing environment in low Earth orbit via coffee mug-sized satellites. This solution is made possible by the falling costs of launching and monitoring a satellite amid the rise of private space contractors like SpaceX.

The physical isolation that this approach provides ensures that the company’s hardware in the circuit is tamper-proof and protected against intrusion by both governmental and non-governmental actors. Unlike ground-based hardware, which depends on high-security measures and an internet connection along with a power source, Cryptosat’s satellite-based calculations are completely independent. Between solar energy and open communication relays, the system is more sound and sustainably designed. Any tampering with the system will require physical proximity to the satellite while it is in orbit.

The recently published results of the reliable setup experiments follow the successful launch of Cryptosat’s Crypto2 satellite on January 3 aboard the SpaceX Transporter 6 mission. The now-orbiting satellite has 30 times more computing power than its orbiting predecessor, Crypto1, which was launched in May. Together, these satellites help the company work toward its goal of acting as a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) for crypto projects and a service provider for other computational tasks that require a trusted setup.

This latest round of experimentation follows other tests conducted aboard the International Space Station, including the Drand Protocol’s publicly verifiable randomness beacon last year and data security applications. Although the reliable setup achieved during the last test on the space station was a success, the scope of its capabilities is limited to one setup per application, meaning it is not a general template that can be used across multiple, more general applications.

Now, with the first successful experiment concluded, Cryptosat and DoraHacks can move forward with further testing and experimentation to refine the reliable computational techniques for more widespread use. The potential uses include launching new blockchains or adding functionality to protocols through the trusted setup process in space.

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