Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Lepinksi, Matthew

Area of Concentration

Computer Science

Abstract

In its current state, the internet is highly centralized. It is arbitrated by large government bodies and corporations. This is made evident from data publicly available from China as well as recent data breaches from Facebook and Yahoo. However, with the advent of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology, a new structure of decentralized governance was made possible using consensus algorithms and cryptographic hash functions. Using the Ethereum blockchain, decentralized applications can potentially build a new type of internet allowing for users to be fully in control of their own personal data without the need for any central authority. This paper explores the potential possibilities and uses of decentralized applications on a blockchain to fix problems of censorship and centralization. We discuss how the technology works, why it’s crucial to the future of the internet, and how a decentralized application is built using this technology. The application described allows users to post files and text permisionlessly without any central authority using a smart contract which interacts with the Ethereum blockchain and the IPFS network. The application is fully functional and has potential use cases in places where free speech rights are infringed upon.

Download

Share

COinS