A Traceable Online Will System Based on Blockchain and Smart Contract Technology

Chin-Ling Chen,Yong-Yuan Deng,Yi-Jui Chiu,Peizhi Chen,Ching-Ying Lin,Mao-Lun Chiang

doi:10.3390/sym13030466

Chin-Ling Chen, Yong-Yuan Deng + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13030466

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Abstract

In recent years, with the rapid levels of economic development, there have been more and more problems in property inheritance and distribution. In today’s society, people still have many taboos when writing a will. Writing a will not only involves various laws and regulations but also costs a lot of money and time, which can be daunting. However, with the development of the Internet, blockchain technology has gradually been applied to many applications. Blockchain technology uses consensus algorithms to ensure consistency and records transaction information in blocks to ensure the effectiveness of transactions. In this paper, we use the cryptography mechanism to propose an online will system based on blockchain and smart contract technology. The architecture considers effectiveness and cost reduction. By combining this with blockchain technology, will assets are saved in blocks, which provides comprehensive will security and non-tamperable security protection. In addition, combined with a smart contract, it realizes the method of automatic property distribution. At the same time, this mechanism also proposes an arbitration solution when there are disputes over wills, and ensures the integrity of data, public verifiability, unforgeability, nonrepudiation, irreversibility of information, and the ability to resist counterfeiting attacks.

Highlights

Quarrels on inheritance issues are nothing new, but in recent years they have become the main content of the news
We propose a traceable online will system based on blockchain and smart contract technology to solve the current issues of validity, privacy, and security protection that arise when producing a will
We found the highest computation cost in the will assets distribution phase; for example, the Blockchain Center needs seven multiplication operations, two hash function operations, one comparison operation, and two signature operations

Summary

Introduction

Quarrels on inheritance issues are nothing new, but in recent years they have become the main content of the news. Most people do not adopt the habit of writing a will, mainly because they have scruples about death. This has led to many families fighting for inheritance rights, causing family members to hate each other and damaging the harmony of society. After the parents hand over a property to their children, the children begin to rebel against the parents, or the siblings fight over the property with each other. A starker example is Hendrix’s USD 80 million real estate dispute [1]. Hendrix’s brother, Leon, announced that he was entitled to inherit the estate and started a real estate lawsuit with Al’s adopted daughter.

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