Method and server for certifying an electronic document

A server for certifying an electronic document, said server being a peer device in a network of peer devices, the peer devices of said network being configured so as to store a copy of a blockchain using a blockchain mechanism, said server comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon,
• which when executed by the processor configure the server to perform acts comprising:
• authenticating an issuing peer device that issues this document;
• generating, for said issuing peer device, a single-use public key/private key pair;
• sending, to the issuing peer device, a message containing said public key and information relating to an address of a smart contract in the blockchain and a description of services offered by this smart contract, said public key being destined to be used by the issuing peer device for signing a fingerprint of the document;
• receiving a block of said chain and detecting, in this block, an event representative of a write operation to said smart contract, the fingerprint of the document issued by said issuing peer device and a signature of this fingerprint signed by the public key;
• verifying validity of said signature with said private key;
• sending a transaction to the peer devices in the network in order to ask the peer devices to execute a function of the smart contract with the effect of recording, in a block of the chain, information representative of a fact that the fingerprint of the document has been certified by said server;
• receiving a fingerprint of the document from an owner entity that owns the document;
• and
• verifying that said fingerprint received from the owner entity is identical to the one recorded in the blockchain and, if this is the case, executing a second function of said smart contract in order to write, to a block of said chain, information representative of the fact that said document has been validated by its owner.

A non-transitory computer readable recording medium on which a computer program is recorded, comprising instructions for executing a method for certifying an electronic document, when the instructions are executed by a certifying peer device in a network of peer devices, said peer devices being configured so as to store a copy of a blockchain using a blockchain mechanism, wherein the instructions configure the certifying peer device to perform acts comprising:

• authenticating an issuing peer device that issues this document;
• generating, for said issuing peer device, a single-use public key/private key pair;
• sending, to the issuing peer device, a message containing said public key and information relating to an address of a smart contract in the blockchain and a description of services offered by this smart contract, said public key being destined to be used by the issuing peer device for signing a fingerprint of the document;
• receiving a block of said chain and detecting, in this block, an event representative of a write operation to said smart contract, the fingerprint of the document issued by said issuing device and a signature of this fingerprint signed by the public key;
• verifying validity of said signature with said private key;
• sending a transaction to the peer devices in the network of peer devices in order to ask the peer devices to execute a function of the smart contract with the effect of recording, in a block of the chain, information representative of a fact that the fingerprint of the document has been certified by said certifying peer device;
• and
• receiving a fingerprint of the document from an owner entity that owns the document;
• and
• verifying that said fingerprint received from the owner entity is identical to the one recorded in the blockchain and, if this is the case, executing a second function of said smart contract in order to write, to a block of said chain, information representative of the fact that said document has been validated by its owner.