GCA

Work Description:
As our digital interactions evolve, from payments and contract signing to information exchanges, it becomes increasingly important to ensure a fair exchange. However, many of these interactions are mediated by centralised and monolithic entities that serve as intermediates and rely on stateful architecture. This creates a single point of failure and control that generates inefficiencies, security vulnerabilities, and privacy risks. My research focuses on the development of a fair exchange protocol, without the need for a centralised entity and Non-performance disputes. My research proposal is to implement a decentralised approach that overcomes the limitations of centralised solutions by employing stateless architectures and technologies such as Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). TEEs provide safe and tamper-proof environments for the execution of sensitive operations without relying on a central authority. This decentralised approach allows individuals to make fair exchange without having to rely on a single entity which creates a more open, resilient, and user-centric digital ecosystem. In my research, I am exploring and evaluating these technologies in practical scenarios to demonstrate that it is possible to ensure fair exchanges in a safe environment without the intervention of centralised third parties. Examples of technologies that support this approach include Intel SGX, ARM TrustZone, AMD secure memory encryption, and Cheri-ARM security features, such as the Morello prototype which was launched for experiments in 2022. These tools are promising in eliminating Non-performance disputes in digital exchanges and in opening new possibilities for decentralisation.