On-block certs: blockchain-based lightweight digital certificates

Abstract

The current method for verifying the status of digital certificates relies on the user checking it against a list provided by the Certification Authority (CA). This verification can fail due to problems on the CA’s site or attacks against it. We developed a proof-of-concept for a system that stores and retrieves a lightweight version of digital certificates from the Ethereum blockchain. By doing that we created a tight link between certificates and their status and also reduced their size by taking advantage of the blockchain transaction structure.