Public, permissionless, open-source blockchains are great (especially Ravencoin). But public, permissionless blockchains can be read by ANYONE. That’s not great for private information.
So, what’s the solution? Encryption!
There are two major categories of encryption.
- Symmetric encryption.
- Asymmetric encryption.
Symmetric encryption uses the same password to encrypt, and decrypt. Asymmetric encryption uses public/private key encryption which has some really interesting properties like being able to encrypt something without knowing or needing to transmit the decryption key.
I’ll explain how to use both with Ravencoin, and you can choose the one that works best for you.
IPFS Data
First a quick refresher on the data storage and immutability of IPFS data that Ravencoin uses for data storage. When issuing, re-issuing, or transferring a token, you can include IPFS data. First, add your file to IPFS, then embed the returned IPFS hash into your Ravencoin transaction.
You are responsible for pinning the file you added. Pinning the file will make you a root source of the file. If you don’t want to do it yourself, use a service like MyPin. Right now the information you include will be pinned by a swarm of…