Abstract

This disclosure describes a protocol by which independent, certified data custodians, here called data banks, exchange deposits and access to them at the request of depositors, online or offline. A depositor may move a deposit from one bank to another at any time. The move is all or nothing: the registry marks the deposit as in transfer and the sending bank locks it; the encrypted deposit travels with a manifest of its provenance identifier, hashes, lineage, terms and earned credits; the receiving bank verifies it; the depositor re-issues its key shares to the receiving bank's attested enclave; the depositor and both banks co-sign a transfer record, the registry moves the deposit's home, and only then does the sending bank destroy its copies with proof. If any step fails before the record is signed, the lock is released and the deposit stays where it was, so that each deposit is live in exactly one bank at any time. A depositor may also re-deposit data it holds in another bank as a new deposit, which pools recognise and count once. Instead of moving data, a bank may obtain access for a certified system it serves to a deposit held elsewhere: the job runs at the holding bank, only permitted outputs leave, and the banks settle the depositor's credits between them. When banks are cut off from each other, a deposit can travel as a sealed transfer package on a physical carrier or by store-and-forward through other sites; the package holds only encrypted data and a signed, expiring transfer intent, while keys travel by a separate path. The receiving bank verifies the package offline and may open it only provisionally, for limited use, until the banks reconnect and reconcile their records under declared rules. The protocol is open, so that any certified bank can take part and no bank can block a depositor's exit.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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