An Origin-Traceable Address Derivation Scheme with Provable Linkage for Blockchain Applications

A blockchain address serves as the unique identifier for users within a blockchain network. While existing blockchain solutions typically employ the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) for address generation, researchers including Ruimin Wang and Jisheng Dong have proposed alternative schemes based on SM9 identity-based cryptography to circumvent the inherent limitations of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). However, while preserving the address privacy of transacting parties, these schemes lack traceability, creating vulnerabilities to Sybil attacks in application scenarios such as voting. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel blockchain address generation scheme based on SM9 identity-based cryptography. Incorporating the concept of hierarchical cryptography, we design a two-tier key derivation structure to guarantee the address privacy of both transacting parties. Furthermore, the generation of derived keys integrates secret sharing technology, thereby achieving source traceability with provable linkage. Provided that participants have registered a legitimate identity (blockchain address), utilizing the proposed scheme to construct derived addresses effectively prevents them from launching Sybil attacks via these derived addresses. The security properties of the proposed scheme—including uniqueness, unpredictability, pseudonymity, traceability, and Sybil resistance—are formally proven under the random oracle model. Finally, theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that, alongside enhanced security (100% Source Tracing Accuracy), the proposed scheme incurs no significant increase in key and address lengths compared to existing solutions, with only a marginal increase in computational overhead.