Nchain Licensing Ag

Nchain Holdings Limited

Dean Kramer

Ying Chan

Martin Sewell

Bassem Ammar

Craig Steven Wright

Ranjiva Prasad

Maheswaran Virupatchan

Vishal Gangwani

Trustless deterministic state machines can be implemented using a blockchain infrastructure and state machines can run concurrently over more than one blockchain transaction. Disclosed herein are processes, apparatuses, and articles of manufacture to create, at a node, a first transaction that includes 1) a first output having a first spendable value and a first locking script and 2) a second output having a second spendable value and a second locking script. Included, in the first locking script, is a first set of constraints on a first selected transaction output. Included, in the second locking script, a second set of constraints on a second selected transaction output. Furthermore, either the first set of constraints or the second set of constraints is configured to impose a constraint on a locking script of a spending transaction having as a spending transaction output the first selected transaction output or the second selected transaction output.

Constraints on outputs of an unlocking transaction in a blockchain

There may be provided a computer-implemented method. It may be implemented using a blockchain network. The computer-implemented method includes: i) receiving, at a node in a blockchain network, a first transaction associated with a digital asset, the first transaction including a locking script that specifies a set of constraints on a second transaction to transfer control of the digital asset, one of the constraints being associated with a set of data; ii) obtaining the second transaction, the second transaction including an unlocking script that, as a result of being executed, causes the node to obtain the set of data; and iii) validating the second transaction by executing the locking script and the unlocking script.

Script-based blockchain interaction

Techniques presented are related to distributed ledge technologies such as consensus-based blockchains. The methods and systems of the present disclosure are provided for causing receiving, at a node in a blockchain network, a first transaction to validate, the first transaction including a first script that at least: includes a set of field values of the first transaction; and causes, as a result of being executed, the node to obtain the set of field values; obtaining a second transaction, the second transaction having been validated and including a second script that, as a result of being executed, causes the node to at least generate a signature based at least in part on a private cryptographic key and a mask number; and validating the first transaction by executing the first script and the second script.

Constraining injection of unlocking transaction bytecode

The invention relates to distributed ledge technologies such as consensus-based blockchains. Computer-implemented methods for a secure random number generation within blockchain scripts are described. The invention is implemented using a blockchain network, which may be, for example, a Bitcoin blockchain. A first transaction that includes a puzzle is validated at a node in a blockchain network, with the first transaction being associated with a digital asset, and with a solution to the puzzle being indeterminable at a time of validation of the first transaction. A pseudorandom number, based at least in part on a solution to the puzzle that is included in a second transaction, is generated at least in part by validating the second transaction, the second transaction created to transfer control of the digital asset associated with the first transaction. Control of the digital asset is transferred based at least in part on the pseudorandom number.

Rewarded puzzle solution

A computer-implemented method using a blockchain network includes: i) receiving, at a node in a blockchain network, a first transaction associated with a digital asset, the first transaction specifying at least: a) a first set of constraints on a second transaction to transfer control of the digital asset, the first set of constraints including one or more constraints that cause the second transaction to contain a set of data from the blockchain network; and b) a second set of constraints on the second transaction, the second set of constraints including a constraint that the set of data includes a block that includes the first transaction, the block included in a blockchain associated with the blockchain network; ii) verifying that the first set of constraints and the second set of constraints are satisfied; and iii) transferring control of the digital asset based at least in part on the verifying.

Script based blockchain interaction

A computer-implemented method and system is provided that maintains blocks of a blockchain across nodes of a sharded blockchain network, wherein each node is a member of one or more shards of a plurality of active shards. The method and system employ a given node that is a member of a particular subset of the plurality of active shards to generate data representing a new block of the blockchain and store the data representing the new block. Such data includes i) a list of transaction identifiers for transactions that are part of the new block and associated with the particular subset of the plurality of active shards, and/or ii) a Partial Merkle Tree for the new block.

Maintaining blocks of a blockchain in a partitioned blockchain network

The invention relates to distributed ledge technologies such as consensus-based blockchains. Computer-implemented methods for a trustless, deterministic state machine are described. The invention is implemented using a blockchain network, which may be, for example, a Bitcoin blockchain. A first transaction validate is received at a node in a blockchain network. The first transaction includes a first script that, as a result of being executed, causes the node to at least obtain a first set of field values of the first transaction, a second set of field values of a second transaction, and an input. The second transaction is obtained. The second transaction includes a second script that includes a set of rules and, as a result of being executed, causes the node to at least verify that the second script matches a third script embedded in the first set of field values, determine, based at least in part on the second set of field values, a current state, and determine, based at least in part on the current state, the input, and the set of rules, a next state. The first transaction is validated as a result of execution of the first script and the second script.

Trustless deterministic state machine

Trustless deterministic state machines can be implemented using a blockchain infrastructure and state machines can run concurrently over more than one blockchain transaction. The transactions can be done in a Bitcoin blockchain ledger. An unlocking transaction constraint that constrains an unlocking transaction to include a transaction input that references a previous transaction output is determined. A redeemable transaction is created to include a transaction output that includes an amount and a transaction locking script that includes the unlocking transaction constraint, with unlocking the amount being contingent upon execution of at least one unlocking script of the unlocking transaction satisfying the unlocking transaction constraint. The redeemable transaction is caused to be validated at a node of a blockchain network.

Concurrent state machine processing using a blockchain

Techniques are provided for causing an injection of a serialized previous transaction into a locking script. A first script, of a first transaction to be validated, causes a node to at least obtain a first set of field values corresponding to the first transaction and obtain a second set of field values corresponding to a particular transaction. A second script, included in a second transaction, causes the node to at least obtain the first set of field values and the second set of field values of the particular transaction supplied as a result of execution of the first script, extract a transaction identifier from the first set of field values, and determine, based at least in part on the second set of field values, that the particular transaction corresponds to the transaction identifier. The first transaction is validated by executing the first script and the second script.

Forcing the injection of a previous transaction's bytecode into a blockchain transaction

Disclosed herein is a computer-implemented method of managing sensitive information and the communication thereof. The method comprising: receiving, by a first server from a second server, first sensitive information relating to a user having an account with the second server; receiving, by the first server from a user device, second sensitive information via a data entry page hosted by the first server, wherein the data entry page is configured to receive second sensitive data associated with the user and the second sensitive information is different to the first sensitive information; and associating, by the first server, the first sensitive information with the second sensitive information. The first server and the second server communicate via a first communication channel and the first server and the user device communicate via a second, different communication channel.

Managing communication of sensitive information

A computer-implemented method of validating a blockchain transaction is disclosed. The method comprises requesting at least one UTXO referenced by at least one respective input of the transaction from a member node of at least one shard comprising at least one UTXO, obtaining validity data of at least one UTXO from at least one node, and performing a validation check on at least one input using the validity data.

Partitioning a blockchain network

The invention relates to distributed ledge technologies such as consensus-based blockchains. Computer-implemented methods for a secure random number generation within blockchain scripts are described. The invention is implemented using a blockchain network, which may be, for example, a Bitcoin blockchain. A third transaction is validated. The third transaction is associated with a third digital asset and includes a first and second puzzle in a locking script. The first puzzle is included, in a first transaction, in a first locking script that encumbers transfer of control of a first digital. The second puzzle is included, in a second transaction, in a second locking script that encumbers transfer of control of a second digital asset. A pseudorandom number is generated based at least in part on solutions to the first and second puzzles. Control of the third digital asset is transferred based at least in part on the pseudorandom number.

Random number generation in a blockchain

There may be provided a computer-implemented method. It may be implemented using a blockchain network such as, for example, the Bitcoin network. The computer-implemented method includes: i) receiving, at a node in a blockchain network, a first transaction associated with a digital asset, the first transaction including a first script that specifies a set of constraints on a second transaction to transfer control of the digital asset, the set of constraints including a constraint that a set of data obtained by the node includes information obtained from a blockchain associated with the blockchain network; ii) obtaining the second transaction, the second transaction including a second script that, as a result of being executed, causes the node to obtain the set of data; and iii) validating the second transaction by executing the first script and the second script.

There may be provided a computer-implemented method. It may be implemented using a blockchain network such as, for example, the Bitcoin network. The computer-implemented method includes: i) receiving, at a node in a blockchain network, a first transaction associated with a digital asset, the first transaction specifying at least: a) a first set of constraints on a second transaction to transfer control of the digital asset, the first set of constraints including one or more constraints that cause the second transaction to contain a set of data from a blockchain; and b) a second set of constraints on the second transaction, the second set of constraints including one or more constraints associated with data items of the set of data; ii) verifying that the first set of constraints and the second set of constraints are satisfied; and iii) reassociating the digital asset based at least in part on the verifying.

Techniques for implementing trustless deterministic state machines using a blockchain infrastructure and running state machines concurrently over one or more transactions are described. An initial transaction is created to include at least one initial locking script that includes a first set of constraints, a second set of constraints, and at least one redeemable value. An unlocking blockchain transaction is also created with an input comprising an unlocking script and respective transaction outputs for a first locking script and a second locking script. Upon processing the initial locking script and the unlocking script, the first set of constraints and the second set of constraints are determined. Next, the first and second locking scripts are verified to ensure that they satisfy the first and second sets of constraints. Finally, the initial transaction is caused to be validated at a node of a blockchain network.

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London, United Kingdom

Dean Kramer