Next Generation Blockchain

The combination of next generation blockchain and cryptographic technologies developed at EPFL DEDIS provides for the scalability, privacy and high-availability required for Proof-of-Personhood technology foundations and applications. Key results from DEDIS research aiming at developing tomorrow's blockchain systems that are fast, scalable, reliable and private include Enhancing Bitcoin Security and Performance with Strong Consistency via Collective Signing (2016), Proof-of-Personhood: Redemocratizing Permissionless Cryptocurrencies (2017) and OmniLedger: A Secure, Scale-Out, Decentralized Ledger via Sharding (2018). On the software engineering side, we have published all of our front- and backend tools as open source via the DEDIS organization on GitHub.

Decentralised Identity Management

We are exploring a self-sovereign identity management system which enables users to authenticate to services via cryptographic keys instead of passwords, to prove statements about their identity attributes in zero knowledge, and to share data on-chain securely. As described in CALYPSO: Auditable Sharing of Private Data over Blockchains (2018), we envision to integrate capabilities allowing users to share data while owning them, and controlling access to those data.

Personhood Parties

Personhood Parties are real-world choreographed gatherings that people can attend in person to prove they are real human beings. The objective Personhood Parties is to verify real people, thereby linking physical and virtual identities and providing a basis to prevent adversaries from mounting Sybil attacks. They can be organised by federations of trusted organisers, and will eventually be coordinated and synchronised. Participants agree on a set of predefined rules while attending. All parties are recorded for transparency, but attendees are free to hide their identities by dressing as they wish, including hiding their faces for anonymity. By the end of the Personhood Party, each attendee will obtain exactly one cryptographic token, a Personhood Badge, that validates the personhood attribute to their digital identity, without revealing sensitive information.