Blockchain technology disrupted the Decentralized and Fintech research and industry since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008. Despite the slow adoption and market ups and downs, this technology inspired other fields like Decentralized applications, Fintech, Cryptography, Economy, etc. Interestingly, it introduced, improved, or revived many useful abstractions like Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), Merkle Proofs, tamper-proof logs, decentralized consensus, etc. In this project, we identify and analyze these abstractions to understand their feasibility in applications once used with or without blockchains. Our hypothesis is that several applications may avoid using the full Blockchain stack, which is known to be complex and costly, while leveraging the underlying abstractions to maintain the needed properties of an application. We then try to improve and extend these abstractions.

The objectives of the project will be to: explore state-of-the-art research and practice together with PhDs and researchers; help on defining and solving a problem conceptually; implement a Proof-of-Concept solution with evaluation/simulation; and contribute and coauthor a scientific paper. More details can be shared and defined after admission and specific topic selection.