TU Wien Informatics

TAST - Token Atomic Swap Technology

Motivation

In the past years, cryptocurrencies, as well as blockchains, the underlying technology, have gained significant interest in finance and economics, research, and public attention in general. Bitcoin, the first implementation of a blockchain protocol in widespread use, sparked significant investment into research and development related to blockchains and cryptocurrencies. At the same time, increased attention has been given to use cases for blockchains beyond cryptocurrencies, such as runtime verification for business processes.

The research field of blockchains is rich and varied, with an ever-increasing number of technologies and implementations. Despite general positive momentum, however, structural problems exist within the blockchain community. The vast amount of blockchains in existence simultaneously causes severe fragmentation of the research and development field. Interoperability between blockchains is mostly impossible, with blockchains instead competing for users and developers

Within the Token Atomic Swap Technology (TAST) research project, we aim to create a platform for cross-blockchain interoperability. In a first step, we seek to enable cross-blockchain asset transfers in form of PAN, a cross-blockchain token. This token is envisioned to be freely transferable between blockchains by the user in a decentralized manner. In the long run, TAST aims to develop a decentralized, cross-blockchain data exchange solution, providing the basis for fostering cross-blockchain collaboration.

Project goals

The overall aim of this project is to design a platform providing interoperability between blockchains. This is performed by aiming for the following goals:

Publications

In addition to publishing research results and findings in academic journals and conferences, the project is planned to yield eight white paper publications.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Frauenthaler, P., Borkowski, M., & Schulte, S. (2020). A Framework for Blockchain Interoperability and Runtime Selection. In 2nd IEEE International Conference on Decentralized Applications and Infrastructures (DAPPS 2020) (pp. 106–113). IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC, USA. [Paper]
  2. Krejci, S., Sigwart, M., & Schulte, S. (2020). Blockchain- and IPFS-based Data Distribution for the Internet of Things. In 8th European Conference on Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing (ESOCC 2020) (Vol. 12054, pp. 177–191). Springer, Heidelberg Berlin. [Paper]
  3. Krejci, S., & Schulte, S. (2020). Living at the Edge: Running IPFS and Ethereum Client Software on Single-board Computers. In KuVS-Fachgespräch Fog Computing 2020 (pp. 20–23). Universitätsbibliothek TU Wien, Vienna, Austria. [Paper]
  4. Sigwart, M., Borkowski, M., Peise, M., Schulte, S., & Tai, S. (2019). Blockchain-based Data Provenance for the Internet of Things. In 9th International Conference on the Internet of Things (IoT 2019) (pp. 15:1–15:8). ACM, New York, NY, USA. [Paper]
  5. Borkowski, M., Sigwart, M., Frauenthaler, P., Hukkinen, T., & Schulte, S. (2019). DeXTT: Deterministic Cross-Blockchain Token Transfers. IEEE Access, 7, 111030–111042. [Paper]

White Papers

  1. Sigwart, M., Frauenthaler, P., Spanring, C., & Schulte, S. (2020). Towards Cross-Blockchain Smart Contracts (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  2. Frauenthaler, P., Sigwart, M., Spanring, C., & Schulte, S. (2020). Advanced Cross-Chain Token Transfers (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  3. Frauenthaler, P., Sigwart, M., Spanring, C., & Schulte, S. (2020). Leveraging Blockchain Relays for Cross-Chain Token Transfers (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  4. Sigwart, M., Frauenthaler, P., Spanring, C., & Schulte, S. (2019). Preparing Simplified Payment Verifications for Cross-Blockchain Token Transfers (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  5. Sigwart, M., Frauenthaler, P., Hukkinen, T., & Schulte, S. (2019). Towards Cross-Blockchain Transaction Verifications (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  6. Frauenthaler, P., Sigwart, M., Borkowski, M., Hukkinen, T., & Schulte, S. (2019). Towards Efficient Cross-Blockchain Token Transfers (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  7. Borkowski, M., Sigwart, M., Frauenthaler, P., Hukkinen, T., Hladky, O., & Schulte, S. (2019). Cross-Blockchain Technologies: Review, State of the Art, and Outlook (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  8. Borkowski, M., Ritzer, C., & Schulte, S. (2018). Deterministic Witnesses for Claim-First Transactions (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  9. Borkowski, M., Ritzer, C., McDonald, D., & Schulte, S. (2018). Caught in Chains: Claim-First Transactions for Cross-Blockchain Asset Transfers (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]
  10. Borkowski, M., McDonald, D., Ritzer, C., & Schulte, S. (2018). Towards Atomic Cross-Chain Token Transfers: State of the Art and Open Questions within TAST (White Paper). Technische Universität Wien. [Paper]

Further Publications

  1. Schulte, S., Sigwart, M., Frauenthaler, P., & Borkowski, M. (2019). Towards Blockchain Interoperability. In BPM Blockchain and Central and Eastern Europe Forum (Vol. 361, pp. 3–10). Springer, Berlin Heidelberg. [Paper] [Preprint]

Acknowledgements

This project is funded by Pantos GmbH.

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