BVI: Lightweight, Data-Centric Blockchain-Based Verification of Identity Claims

2026-10-05

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenges of identity spoofing and credential verification in voice calls by proposing a data-centric, lightweight blockchain architecture. The method anchors organizational records on-chain while offloading decision logic to endpoints, introducing a novel endpoint-side verification mechanism that operates without full-chain state. Optional man-in-the-middle attestations are incorporated to enhance tamper resistance. Leveraging a public ledger and smart contracts, the system validates identity claims under cryptographic commitments. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that all 27 scenario tests pass successfully, with a per-session anchoring cost of approximately 91.5k gas. This significantly outperforms conventional hop-by-hop comparison schemes, achieving an effective balance between high security and low computational overhead.

Abstract

A person who answers an unexpected call claiming to come from a bank has no way to check the claim. Australian text messaging has labelled a message as unverified when the sender identifier is not registered since 1 July 2026, but a voice call still arrives with nothing behind it, and voice cloning has removed the last cue recipients relied on. We present BVI, which answers one question for the recipient: did the calling party prove it holds a credential a registered organisation issued for this call? BVI keeps the organisational record, its authorised channels and its revocation state on a public ledger in a directly queryable form, and puts all decision logic in the handset, which performs eleven checks, pays no transaction fee and holds no full-chain state. We define ten attack classes plus the case in which revocation cannot be resolved, compare them in a 10-by-4 coverage matrix spanning BBCA, the content digest, the detector and composed BVI, and run 27 automated scenario tests against isolated Hardhat fixture states of the BVI contract; all 27 pass. For media substitution and synthetic speech, the contract tests validate commitment and gating properties rather than claiming detector accuracy. The mandatory per-session anchor costs about 91.5k gas and is invariant in call duration and hop count; each participating intermediary additionally contributes one optional attestation write. In a 20,000-session-per-cell path simulation, at one quarter carrier participation BVI detects 20.6 per cent of randomly located in-path rewrites versus 0.1 per cent for the every-hop comparison, while identity and content evidence remain available even when path evidence is indeterminate. We also quantify the throughput ceiling of the anchoring design.

Problem

• identity verification
• voice cloning
• caller authentication
• telecommunication security
• credential validation

Innovation

• Blockchain-based Identity Verification
• Lightweight Architecture
• Data-Centric Design
• Smart Contract Testing
• Path Rewrite Detection