Blockchain ?

What is a blockchain?

The blockchain is a technology that allows one to keep a record of a set of transactions (writes to the blockchain) in a decentralised, secure and transparent manner, as a chain of blocks.
A blockchain can therefore be likened to a large tamper‑proof register.

How a blockchain works

The principle of distribution

The particularity of the blockchain is that it operates without a central control organ.
Instead of being gathered in a single location or passing through a single intermediary, the transactions (writes to the blockchain) are distributed across all the servers of the network members.

Blocks in the blockchain

  • When a transaction is made, it is grouped with others into a block and can no longer be altered.
  • Miners validate the block using cryptographic techniques; the transaction is timestamped.
  • Once the block is validated, it is added to the chain of blocks accessible to all users. Nothing can be modified or erased: an error would require adding a new transaction.

Transactions

Take the example of a major scientific discovery, not yet published, in PDF format. The author wishes to guarantee the intellectual property and priority of the discovery.
To do this, they simply need to:

  • Create a unique digital fingerprint (hash) of the PDF file.
  • Record this digital fingerprint in the blockchain using their personal wallet address.

It is now indisputable (and verifiable) that, on the date of the recording in the blockchain (the transaction), this PDF file, identifiable by its unique digital fingerprint, was indeed submitted by the author.

Blockchain for science

The blockchain technology offers a robust solution to guarantee the intellectual property, integrity and authenticity of scientific results, to prevent data falsification, and to ensure transparency of research processes.

  • Security
    The blockchain is a robust and reliable system built on cryptography, which is its main advantage. To hack a blockchain you would have to breach a multitude of different databases (the validation nodes) rather than a single one, because the system is not centralised but distributed.

  • Transparency
    All members of a network participate in validating the exchanges added to a blockchain and contribute to verifying the reliability of the senders and receivers of the transactions. This also means that in case of fraud, all users would be immediately aware.
    However, members of a blockchain do not have access to information that does not concern them. Private data remain protected.

  • Autonomy
    The infrastructure of a blockchain operates autonomously: the very principle of this technology removes the need for a trusted third party. Within a blockchain, it is software programmes and lines of code that execute transactions, without human intervention. This is especially the case with smart contracts, autonomous programmes capable of executing contracts according to defined rules.

Consequently the applications of blockchain are numerous in the research field.

  • Intellectual property: By providing an immutable and timestamped register of copyright and usage licences, the blockchain facilitates proof of the priority of a discovery.
  • Authenticity: With the blockchain, the authenticity of research data can be verified at every stage of the process, guaranteeing their provenance.
  • Integrity: Each transaction or modification is recorded transparently, preventing fraudulent falsifications or alterations.
  • Traceability: The blockchain allows the entire history of manipulations to be reconstructed, ensuring total transparency in the scientific process.

Many use‑cases of blockchain can therefore be envisaged: certain attribution of ownership, priority, rights and licence management on data or scientific outputs, lifecycle history of data, samples, agricultural products or maintenance of scientific equipment, authenticity of diplomas, micro‑certifications, electronic voting, and so on.