Building a Privacy-First URL Shortener on Blockchain

说明与用途

构建了一个隐私优先的 URL 缩短器，使用客户端加密并将加密后的链接存储在 Cronos 区块链上，浏览器本地解密，消除服务器端跟踪和集中式数据存储。

问题

Traditional URL shorteners log IPs, timestamps, user agents, track browsing patterns, and sell data, creating a privacy nightmare and a single point of failure.

结果

Cryptly provides a privacy‑first URL shortener that never exposes destination URLs to servers, removes centralized tracking, and leverages blockchain for immutable, censorship‑resistant storage.

工作流

• Generate a random IV and AES‑GCM key in the browser.
• Encrypt the destination URL with Web Crypto API.
• Send the ciphertext to a Cloudflare Worker endpoint.
• Worker writes the ciphertext to the Cronos blockchain via a smart contract.
• When a user clicks the short link, the Worker fetches the ciphertext from the blockchain.
• The browser decrypts the ciphertext locally and redirects to the original URL.
• The server never sees the plaintext URL or user metadata.

证据

Bit.ly logs your IP, timestamp, user agent

来源

Encrypted URL stored on Cronos blockchain

来源