Decentralizing Reclaim

Expanding the Reclaim protocol with multi-attestor verification, economic incentives, and anonymity.

Multi-Attestor Verification Mechanism

• Problem: Relying on a single Attestor creates a single point of failure and trust.
• Solution: Implement a system where each Claim is verified by multiple independent Attestors.
• Benefit: Significantly reduces the risk of fraudulent claims by requiring consensus among multiple parties.

Economic Incentives and Penalty Mechanisms

• Problem: Ensuring Attestor honesty requires more than just trust.
• Solution: Introduce economic incentives and penalty mechanisms through:
  • Token Staking: Attestors stake tokens as collateral, which can be slashed for dishonest behavior.
  • Transaction Fees: Attestors earn fees for verifying Claims, incentivizing participation.
  • Penalty Mechanisms: Automated detection and punishment of anomalous behavior.
• Benefit: Creates a self-regulating system that promotes honest participation and discourages malicious actions.

Ensuring Anonymity

• Problem: Linking multiple credentials of a user can compromise their privacy.
• Solution: Implement measures to guarantee that user credentials remain unlinked, preventing third parties from inferring identities through on-chain data.
• Benefit: Protects user privacy and prevents unauthorized tracking of their activity.

Key Decentralization Goals

• Enhanced Security: Multi-attestor verification strengthens the reliability of Claims.
• Increased Trust: Economic incentives and penalties foster a trustworthy ecosystem.
• Improved Privacy: Anonymity measures safeguard user data.

By implementing these decentralization strategies, we are building a more robust, secure, and private Reclaim protocol, capable of scaling and serving a wider range of use cases.

The Reclaim Solution: Secure API Attestation

The Reclaim protocol introduces a novel approach using "attestor" nodes to proxy API requests, enabling verifiable data claims.

How It Works

1. Proxied API Request:
   • The user initiates an API request to a service, routed through an attestor node.
   • The attestor observes the traffic flow.
2. Sensitive Data Protection:
   • The protocol allows users to conceal sensitive data, such as passwords or API secrets (e.g., {secret-token}), from the attestor.
3. Response Verification:
   • The attestor verifies that the response from the service (e.g., Google's servers) matches the user's claimed response.
4. Signed Claim:
   • Upon successful verification, the attestor signs a "claim" attesting to the user's access to the specified data (e.g., the email address).
5. Trustless Proof:
   • This signed claim serves as verifiable proof of data access, without revealing the user's sensitive information.

Trust and Decentralization

While the protocol requires trusting the attestor, this risk is mitigated through decentralization. By establishing a decentralized attestor network, the protocol reduces the potential for collusion and enhances overall security.

Key Benefits

• Privacy: Sensitive information remains protected.
• Verifiability: Claims are cryptographically signed and verifiable.
• Trustlessness: Enables secure data utilization in trustless environments.
• Decentralization: Mitigates risks associated with centralized attestors.