In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science

Quang Tran

will defend his thesis

Cross-Chain Trading Network Using Smart Contracts

Abstract

The blockchain, a secured and distributed database design, was introduced and has been launched for ten years. Since then, a great number of cryptocurrencies and financial trading markets using digital assets have also been enriched over time. Despite the fluctuation in the exchange rate, blockchains and its cryptocurrencies have no remarkable change overall. They are still on the merry-go-round on the old-traditional trading mechanism, which exchanges between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. Although few projects are emerging to enrich a blockchain's trading usage, i.e. cross-chain liquidity, it still limits itself on swapping one cryptocoin with another. Beyond the support of swapping coins, the blockchain could be applied and extended to become a trade-payment network that connects multiple solitary blockchain-based platforms. In this thesis, the paper proposes a heuristic cross-chain trading system that leverages the blockchain technology to shape up a fair and borderless trading network across multiple decentralized blockchains by taking advantage of smart contracts and ERC-20 protocol. To demonstrate the feasibility, this thesis provides a concrete example and design of a cross-chain trading network between three popular systems which are Bitcoin, Lightning Network Daemon and Ethereum.

Date: Monday, March 23, 2020
Time: 1:00 PM
Place: PGH 550
Advisors: Dr. Weidong Larry Shi

Faculty, students, and the general public are invited.