IPv6 Bitcoin-Certified Addresses

Abstract

A pivotal feature of IPv6 is its plug-and-play capability that enables hosts to integrate seamlessly into networks. In the absence of a trusted authority or security infrastructure, the challenge for hosts is generating their own address and verifying ownership of others. Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGA) solves this problem by binding IPv6 addresses to hosts' public keys to prove address ownership. CGA generation involves solving a cryptographic puzzle similar to Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) to deter address spoofing. Unfortunately, solving the puzzle often causes undesirable address generation delays, which has hindered the adoption of CGA. In this paper, we present Bitcoin-Certified Addresses (BCA), a new technique to bind IPv6 addresses to hosts' public keys. BCA reduces the computational cost of generating addresses by using the PoW computed by Bitcoin nodes to secure the binding. Compared to CGA, BCA provides better protection against spoofing attacks and improves the privacy of hosts. Due to the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, BCA avoids reliance on a trusted authority, similar to CGA. BCA shows how the PoW computed by Bitcoin nodes can be reused, which saves costs for hosts and makes Bitcoin mining more efficient.