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BT-CNV: A distributed and decentralized solution for certificate notarization and verification for academia using public blockchain

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Abstract

In the past, blockchain technology has received much attention due to its unique properties and potential to transform various sectors, including education. As of today, the forgery of certificates is the most significant issue in the education sector, posing severe challenges for academic institutions, employers, and individuals seeking genuine qualifications. It proposes an Ethereum blockchain-based certificate notarization and verification framework to overcome the cited challenges. This work introduces the consensus mechanism for the education sector, known as EduCM, which will be based on the proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus model within the proposed BT-CNV framework. The work introduces a user registration approach, a certificate notarization approach, and a certificate verification approach within the proposed BT-CNV framework. These processes rely on combining decentralized storage using IPFS and the power of blockchain technology to guarantee security and integrity and provide verifiability for educational certificates. In this framework, the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm is used for digitally signing and verifying peer-to-peer network transactions, the SHA-256 algorithm serves as the cryptographic hashing function, IPFS provides decentralized storage services, and EduCM is used to validate network transactions. In the Remix IDE, MetaMask wallet, and Sepolia test network, we implemented the BT-CNV framework. Experiments were conducted to evaluate BlockSim simulation toolkit performance measurements of throughput, latency, response time, and standard deviation metrics. The proposed BT-CNV framework realizes an average throughput of 319.36 TPS, a latency of 44.1 milliseconds, a response time of 85.5 milliseconds, and a standard deviation of 81.7 milliseconds. We make a security analysis of the BT-CNV framework, compare the features of the proposed EduCM with past proposals, and find that the new features offered by the proposed BT-CNV framework enhance the security capabilities. This work also highlights the positive impacts, implications, and societal contributions of this proposed BT-CNV framework on the broader community. This initiative will positively impact the issue of fraudulent credentials and certificate forgery.

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  1. Rohit Kumar Sachan and Sonal Kukreja contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SCSET, Bennett University, Greater Noida, 201310, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Prity Rani, Rohit Kumar Sachan & Sonal Kukreja

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  1. Prity Rani
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Contributions

\(\bullet \) Prity Rani: Study conception and design, Data collection, Analysis and interpretation of results, Draft manuscript preparation. \(\bullet \) Rohit Kumar Sachan: Study conception, Analysis and interpretation of results, Verification of results, Draft manuscriptpreparation. Critically revised the work, Supervised the work. \(\bullet \) Sonal Kukreja: Supervised the work. All authors reviewed the paper and approved the final version of the manuscript

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Correspondence to Rohit Kumar Sachan.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection: 3 - Track on Blockchain

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Rani, P., Sachan, R.K. & Kukreja, S. BT-CNV: A distributed and decentralized solution for certificate notarization and verification for academia using public blockchain. Peer-to-Peer Netw. Appl. 18, 60 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12083-024-01889-3

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