Tree-ORAP: A Tree-Based Oblivious Random-Access Protocol for Privacy-Protected Blockchain

Abstract

Since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008, blockchain technology has found widespread applications across various domains. While blockchain offers convenience and immense research value, it also raises privacy and security concerns among users and society at large. Notably, numerous studies have demonstrated the vulnerability of blockchain anonymity. Existing solutions based on bloom filters and SGX(Software Guard Extensions) may safeguard users’ access patterns but remain susceptible to novel attacks, including protocol-level and side-channel attacks. To address these issues, we propose a Tree-based Oblivious Random Access Protocol (Tree-ORAP) that not only provides access pattern protection in privacy-preserving blockchain systems but also preserves the original blockchain performance. Furthermore, we design a Tree-ORAP State Version Controller to manage state synchronization across nodes in a multi-client blockchain network. We also analyze the system's security and implement a Tree-ORAP prototype, conducting a series of experiments to demonstrate its efficiency and technical feasibility. In summary, our protocol offers enhanced protection for blockchain systems against a wider range of attacks compared to previous methods, all while maintaining superior security performance and equal or better efficiency.