MembraneChain

Inspiration

In a recent research project from SMU that required crowdsourced wireless data, researchers struggled to find a way to collect, organize, and share this data in a way that protected the data privacy of the users. After much investigation, they could not find any framework that addressed these concerns. Membrane is a direct response to that challenge, offering a fail-safe way to transfer crowdsourced data to researchers, institutions, and corporations without compromising the privacy of the users.

What it does

Membrane allows users to anonymously support crowdsourcing efforts and control exactly who is in possession of their data. The main reason for the lack of crowdsourcing support is that people fear their data being snatched by a corporation who only wants to abuse it for profit. In Web3, we are beginning to see the forefront of true control over personal data, and Membrane seeks to lead the charge in pushing scientific progress through large amounts of anonymized data. You only share what you want, when you want, and who you want to send it to.

Who it is for

Membrane is for research institutions, databases, and even paying corporations. Users submit their data (willingly or for a price), and state exactly who they want to have access to the information. Then, Membrane takes care of the rest. Securing safe transactions over the blockchain and providing enormous amounts of clean data directly to researchers, Membrane makes sure that people come first.

Challenges we faced

Due to the nature of the hack, we had to directly employ wireless hardware to send and receive the data. One of the hardest challenges we faced was finding a way to allow the hardware to securely access the blockchain while also keeping sensitive data hidden. We accomplished this by using a commit-reveal protocol with a zero knowledge proof to ensure truthy data. Another challenge was routing data through the smart contract without ever leaving it on the blockchain. To solve this, we utilized a hybrid contract through Chainlink, which allowed us to let data hop on and off the smart contract like a freeway.

What's next for Membrane

Research, Development, and Deployment. We believe that the world needs MembraneChain now more than ever. Our data is ours, and we should be able to do what we want with it, especially to advance scientific progress through crowdsourcing!