Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure with Identity Retention

Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) enable users to look up and verify one another’s public keys based on identities. One of the biggest vulnerabilities in current approaches to PKIs is the lack of identity retention, meaning a user can register a public key under another’s already-registered identity. This project aims to design and implement a PKI that ensures this security property utilizing the consistency guarantees provided by cryptocurrencies. Our primary objective is to conduct an in-depth analysis on the blockchain in order to proper understand how to build one and what benefits this technology might bring in terms of security.