Trinity researcher Dr Hitesh Tewari explores a number of ways blockchain technology could pave the way for privacy.
From its humble beginnings to becoming the first decentralized cryptocurrency, bitcoin has come a long way.
The Bitcoin protocol, which has an immutable, distributed blockchain at its core, has since inspired others to create a variety of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies and tokens.
From there, new concepts continued to evolve, from smart contracts that are locked into the blockchain to non-fungible tokens that can represent real-world objects like artwork and real estate.
While the latter is rightfully treated with some skepticism, the core technology of blockchain is a powerful instrument as we move forward in the digital transformation space.
Dr Hitesh Tewari is Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin. His research has spanned computer networks, electronic payment systems, cryptography and blockchain technology.
In September, Trinity was listed among the top 50 universities for blockchain by CoinDesk.
“Researchers like me have used the blockchain to redesign centralized networks (fixed and mobile) for a decentralized environment, to make them more transparent, secure and robust,” Tewari told SiliconRepublic.com.
“In 2017, together with my team, I demonstrated an elegant solution to a long-standing electronic voting dilemma, developing a fully auditable and anonymous e-Voting protocol using a cryptocurrency called Zcash. I also use my expertise in zero-knowledge protocols (ZKPs) to develop privacy-preserving smart contracts to strengthen the area of user privacy.”
Decentralized privacy-preserving systems
Every time we use social media, access smart devices or pay for things online, we leave digital footprints all over the internet.
But as we become more privacy conscious, the need to be in control of our personal data has become more important than ever. This is where the use of blockchain can come in.
Tewari’s current research focuses on decentralized privacy-preserving systems, from autonomous vehicle security to next-generation cryptocurrencies.
With the internet increasingly under the control of a small number of large technology firms, he has created a framework for a decentralized internet where end users are in control of their data and their digital footprints are kept private.
“The genie has been let out of the bottle and decentralization is here to stay”
– HITESH TEWARI
“In the e-health area, I have developed an ecosystem for healthcare that enables the patient’s medical records to be stored securely and anonymously on a blockchain. This allows data to be mined by third parties to determine health trends, etc., without them deriving personal information about individual patients,” he explained.
Additionally, with connected and autonomous vehicles increasingly equipped with complex sensors and processors, Tewari is actively researching secure “vehicle-to-everything” communications using blockchain.
Future blockchain trends
Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies have consistently made headlines in recent years, with some dubbing decentralized finance (DeFi) systems as the “Wild West” of banking.
“The idea of a completely anonymous blockchain-based cryptocurrency or a DeFi that is not under the control of a national government terrifies the incumbents, who desperately want to maintain the status quo that has been in place for the past century,” Tewari said.
“Central banks around the world are scrambling to come up with their own cryptocurrency offerings, also known as stablecoins, which are pegged to, say, the US dollar, the euro, etc.”
European finance chief Mairead McGuinness said earlier this year that a bill to introduce a digital euro could be tabled in the EU early next year, while Joe Biden signed an order with a plan for digital assets in the US, including the potential for a digital dollar.
“I think that as blockchain-based cryptocurrencies become more mature and start to address some of the big challenges like increasing the number of transactions per second and reducing energy consumption, major e-commerce players like Amazon and Alibaba etc will start accepting such cryptocurrencies. as payment for goods and services,” Tewari added.
But while cryptocurrencies are growing in popularity, the environmental impact of securing transactions on the blockchain is something that needs to be considered.
“With the increased awareness of the devastating effects that climate change is having on our planet, I propose to develop energy-efficient and high transaction throughput protocols for next-generation cryptocurrencies by developing new consensus mechanisms, lightweight cryptographic protocols, etc,” Tewari said.
He added that with mass adoption by end users, there will be less volatility in the price of these crypto tokens as they will begin to play an important functional role in the global financial system.
“I also believe that in the future, ZKPs will be increasingly employed to preserve end-user privacy while providing irrefutable proof of identity, payment and contract fulfillment to the suppliers of goods and services in today’s increasingly digital world,” he said.
“The genie has been let out of the bottle and decentralization is here to stay.”
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