Analysing and comparing the digital seal according to eIDAS regulation with and without blockchain technology

Abstract

Digitalisation of public services has already changed the way how we interact with government. The electronic signature, based on public key cryptography, has strengthened the trust towards this transformation. With the recent appearance of the electronic seal, this digital transformation is complete. The new European Union regulation for electronic identification, authentication and trust services (eIDAS) has repealed the old directive and provides a regulatory environment. In the meantime, a novel technology based in cryptography rose as an alternative to fulfil these objectives – the blockchain. This paper, analyses the properties of the electronic seal, based on eIDAS regulation, with and without blockchain technology. The developed application uses local X.509 digital certificates and the multichain platform for the creation and deployment of private blockchains. At the end of the paper, an overview of this comparison is provided, using different documents, pointing out the pros and cons of each technology.