Yuncong Hu

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2022-104

May 13, 2022

A vast majority of online services nowadays are built atop centralized systems, in which data is stored and managed by a trusted party. However, centralization brings significant drawbacks, such as a central point of attack, poor transparency, and poor auditability. Recent success in the field of blockchain has led to great interest in secure decentralized ledgers because they enable a set of heterogeneous parties to reach a consensus on the validity of data on ledgers without relying on centralized service providers. In addition, decentralized ledgers often promise a foundation of decentralized trust and auditability for applications. Unfortunately, the benefits of decentralized ledgers often come at the expense of privacy and efficiency. In this dissertation, I will present my work on secure and efficient decentralized ledgers. I will show how to improve the efficiency and privacy of decentralized ledgers, which involves the design of new cryptographic tools such as zero-knowledge proofs and authenticated data structures. I will also show how to leverage decentralized ledgers to build practical and secure systems for real-world applications such as the Internet of Things and file sharing services.

Advisors: Raluca Ada Popa and Alessandro Chiesa

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BibTeX citation:

@phdthesis{Hu:EECS-2022-104,
    Author= {Hu, Yuncong},
    Title= {Decentralized Ledgers: Design and Applications},
    School= {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year= {2022},
    Month= {May},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2022/EECS-2022-104.html},
    Number= {UCB/EECS-2022-104},
    Abstract= {A vast majority of online services nowadays are built atop centralized systems, in which data is stored and managed by a trusted party. However, centralization brings significant drawbacks, such as a central point of attack, poor transparency, and poor auditability. Recent success in the field of blockchain has led to great interest in secure decentralized ledgers because they enable a set of heterogeneous parties to reach a consensus on the validity of data on ledgers without relying on centralized service providers. In addition, decentralized ledgers often promise a foundation of decentralized trust and auditability for applications. Unfortunately, the benefits of decentralized ledgers often come at the expense of privacy and efficiency.
In this dissertation, I will present my work on secure and efficient decentralized ledgers. I will show how to improve the efficiency and privacy of decentralized ledgers, which involves the design of new cryptographic tools such as zero-knowledge proofs and authenticated data structures. I will also show how to leverage decentralized ledgers to build practical and secure systems for real-world applications such as the Internet of Things and file sharing services.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Hu, Yuncong 
%T Decentralized Ledgers: Design and Applications
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2022
%8 May 13
%@ UCB/EECS-2022-104
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2022/EECS-2022-104.html
%F Hu:EECS-2022-104