Cryptographic service delivery in a decentralized transaction system

Abstract

A method of providing a cryptographic service at a computing node is described. The cryptographic service is provided for a requesting party external to the computing node in relation to a transaction. The cryptographic service operates on transaction data in a cryptographic service format. At the computing node, the following steps take place. A service request is received from a requesting party: this service request comprises a request to perform a cryptographic service in relation to the transaction; and the request comprises transaction data in a transaction format. The computing node detects from the transaction data in the transaction format that it comprises transaction data in a cryptographic service format, and it extracts the transaction data in the cryptographic service from one or more data fields of the transaction format. This is possible as the one or more data fields have been repurposed to contain the transaction data in the cryptographic service format. The computing node then processes the transaction data in the cryptographic service format to perform the cryptographic service. An associated method of performing a transaction is also described, along with suitable computing apparatus for performing these methods.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.