e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries. 10th EAI International Conference, AFRICOMM 2018, Dakar, Senegal, November 29-30, 2019, Proceedings

Research Article

Secure, Transparent and Uniform Mobile Money for Internet-Underserved Areas Using Sporadically-Synchronized Blockchain

Download
188 downloads
  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-030-16042-5_12,
        author={Sankalp Ghatpande and Hadja Ouattara and Daouda Ahmat and Zakaria Sawadogo and Tegawend\^{e} Bissyand\^{e}},
        title={Secure, Transparent and Uniform Mobile Money for Internet-Underserved Areas Using Sporadically-Synchronized Blockchain},
        proceedings={e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries. 10th EAI International Conference, AFRICOMM 2018, Dakar, Senegal, November 29-30, 2019, Proceedings},
        proceedings_a={AFRICOMM},
        year={2019},
        month={3},
        keywords={Mobile money Blockchain ICT4D Internet-underserved areas},
        doi={10.1007/978-3-030-16042-5_12}
    }
    
  • Sankalp Ghatpande
    Hadja Ouattara
    Daouda Ahmat
    Zakaria Sawadogo
    Tegawendé Bissyandé
    Year: 2019
    Secure, Transparent and Uniform Mobile Money for Internet-Underserved Areas Using Sporadically-Synchronized Blockchain
    AFRICOMM
    Springer
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-16042-5_12
Sankalp Ghatpande1,*, Hadja Ouattara2,*, Daouda Ahmat3,*, Zakaria Sawadogo2,*, Tegawendé Bissyandé,*
  • 1: SnT, University of Luxembourg
  • 2: Université Ouaga I Pr. Joseph Ki-Zerbo
  • 3: Université Virtuelle du Tchad
*Contact email: sankalp.ghatpande@uni.lu, hadja.ouattara@gmail.com, daoudique@gmail.com, zakaria.sawado@gmail.com, bissyande@fasolabs.org

Abstract

This position paper presents the design and outline of the implementation of a mobile money scheme that adapts to the realities of Internet-underserved Areas while exploiting the benefits of Internet protocols. In particular, we implement security and transparency in mobile money transactions using a lightweight permissioned Blockchain infrastructure. Nevertheless, due to network latency and potential connectivity issues, the design of the platform accepts semi-offline transactions: it leverages USSD, a 2nd Generation mobile protocol, only as a back-up channel to force writing of offline transactions to the permissioned ledger and ensure smooth synchronization of the blockchain.