Master Thesis Defense - November 27, 2017: New Applications of Blockchain Technology to Voting and Lending

Mildred Chidinma Okoye

Monday, November 27, 2017 at 11:00 a.m.
Room EV011.119

You are invited to attend the following M.A.Sc. (Information Systems Security) thesis examination.

Examining Committee

Dr. W. Lucia, Chair
Dr. J. Clark, Supervisor
Dr. A. Youssef, CIISE Examiner
Dr. B. Caron, External Examiner (CES)

Abstract

With a lot of attention (even hype) given to blockchain technology, it is not startling that many researchers, developers, journalists, and start-ups have posited blockchain technology as the missing link for solving several problems with major interest within the financial sector.

Motivated by the current burst of interest around blockchains, we examine the feasibility of a few decentralized blockchain applications: specifically, voting and lending. The spiked interest in blockchain is the result of its perceived benefits, ranging from the removal of trusted parties and bureaucracy, lower costs, transparency, among others. In this thesis, we explore how the blockchain mechanism works, how it can be integrated with the concept of smart contracts (scripts that exist on the blockchain enabling the automation of processes), and how to create applications that operate on this decentralized platform.

We start by considering the viability of voting on a blockchain. Then, the bulk of this thesis focuses on a lending infrastructure for cryptocurrencies deployed on the Ethereum Virtual Machine. We present a cognitive walk-through for the deployment of a loan (peer to peer lending and bonds) on the blockchain by utilizing the transparency offered. A performance evaluation is given in terms of transparency, cost, security and reliability of the system are conducted and limitations encountered as well as future work is discussed in the later part of this thesis.