A Secure Shopping Experience Based on Blockchain and Beacon Technology
The present work proposes a novel approach for a future shopping system. Customers’ personal data are protected by a blockchainbased storage network. Based on the bitcoin protocol, the system transacts encrypted data in a tamper-proof way and is able to run secure multiparty computations while no one but the data owner has access to the input data. Thus, a potential customer is able to allow a company to apply functions like a recommendation algorithm without revealing personal data. In combination with a low-energy transmitter (beacon), a completely new shopping experience arises. The beacon automatically triggers a recommendation process based on encrypted personal data. The resulting outcome is a recommendation system, a self-checkout system, and a payment system all in one, thereby full anonymity is guaranteed and the customer never lose control on her data.