Smart Contract and IPFS Decentralized Storage for Halal Certification Process

Abstract

The halal industry today has achieved rapid development. Halal product is mandatory for Muslims and a big business for Indonesia. For others, it affirms the product's quality assurance and becomes a trending lifestyle. The product owner must submit an application and undergo several processes to obtain a halal certificate. However, there are challenges in the certification process and documentation. The proposed system automates the flow between certification processes through digital signing and stores the certificate and fatwa file. The study investigates the utilization of blockchain to manage the process and the integration of decentralized storage (IPFS) to store the digital version of the fatwa and certificate. A smart contract is designed and deployed on the Ethereum blockchain, and the transaction time and cost are analyzed. A smart contract enforces that certain actions are executed once the required conditions are fulfilled. The proposed system would cost 24.6 USD and require 227 seconds on average for the system setup. Each submission requires 9.86 USD and takes 92 seconds on average. Verification is free, and the average result can be obtained in one second. The appointed officer sets each entity to interact with the contract, and the digital documents (fatwa and certificate) are available online using IPFS. Progress of the certification is transparent to the public, increasing the public's trust. The study demonstrates a smart contract's capability to manage a product's certification process.