escrin

Escrin is a flexible, highly customizable, and programmable platform that leverages Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to facilitate secure off-chain computation and seamless data movement between blockchain networks and traditional web infrastructures (Web2). Recognizing the challenges posed by the proliferation of Layer 2 solutions and the resulting fragmentation of users and assets, Escrin offers a secure and efficient means to bridge these ecosystems.
By harnessing TEEs, Escrin ensures data confidentiality and integrity during computation while enabling high-performance processing essential for modern decentralized applications. Developers can conveniently deploy cross-chain workloads to TEE nodes they trust, enhancing efficiency and providing flexibility in deployment. This approach accommodates permissioned, permissionless, geographically restricted, and regulated environments, aligning with diverse regulatory requirements such as GDPR.
Escrin’s unique federated security model addresses the limitations of uniform decentralization, acknowledging that TEEs cannot be fully decentralized due to inherent vulnerabilities like side-channel and physical attacks. By enabling mutually interoperable sub-networks operated by trusted entities, Escrin allows for secure federated networks where participants trust the operators. This model supports convenient secret management alongside secure computation, empowering autonomous computing where the computation itself becomes the root of trust.
Through its integrated secret management and autonomous computation capabilities, Escrin acts as the “glia” between chains and Web2, facilitating blockchain-backed services with a user experience comparable to traditional web applications. It enables secure off-chain computations to process data moving between domains (Web2-Web3 or Web3-Web3), enhancing interoperability and efficiency.
In summary, Escrin stands as a robust solution that combines the security of TEEs with the flexibility of programmable, cross-chain computation. It offers developers and users a secure, efficient, and convenient platform for off-chain computation and data movement, fostering more integrated and user-friendly blockchain ecosystems.
- Motivation for the project: Escrin enables TrustChain to support diverse blockchain ecosystems by providing flexible, secure, and GDPR-compliant cross-chain interoperability. It allows innovative TrustChain applications to integrate efficiently across multiple chains, fostering their growth within European and global markets.
- Generic use case description: Escrin acts as the connective tissue between blockchain networks and Web2, performing secure off-chain computations to process and transfer data across domains. It enables blockchain-backed services that offer the user-friendly experience of traditional web applications.
- Essential functionalities: Escrin offers a secure, decentralized platform where developers can deploy efficient cross-chain workloads to trusted workers. It combines trusted execution with integrated secret management, enabling autonomous computation and secure data movement between blockchain networks and Web2 environments.
- How these functionalities can be integrated within the software ecosystem: Escrin integrates into the TrustChain ecosystem by providing infrastructure for secure cross-chain identity management, decentralized data markets, and user privacy solutions. It complements existing TrustChain projects by enabling secure data sharing and computation across networks.
- Gap being addressed: Escrin fills the need for a cost-effective, programmable cross-chain solution. Traditional bridges are expensive and lack flexibility; newer technologies may compromise on security and privacy. Escrin offers a flexible, secure platform that enables efficient, customizable interoperability.
- Expected benefits achieved with the novel technology building blocks: Escrin enables TrustChain and European protocols to rapidly deploy fast, secure, and private computations across chains, fostering next-generation applications in cross-chain identity, data asset ownership, governance, and data marketplaces.
Team

Nick Hynes
Project coordinator and lead developer, former tech lead at Oasis Network, a confidential L1 network; formerly AI x security PhD researcher at UC Berkeley; MEng and BSc in computer science from MIT with a focus on AI

Mitar Milutinovic
Developer and grant management, computer science PhD from UC Berkeley, expertise in computer security, blockchain, and AI

David Marn
Developer and tester, computer science BSc from UC Berkeley, expertise in privacy

Andrea Feher
UX researcher, ethnology and cultural anthropology MSc from University of Ljubljana, expertise in user centric design
Entity

PlastOsem (Layer8)
The mission of the Layer8 institute is to promote, enable, research, and develop an open society and organic technologies.
Website: https://plast8.si