Building a Privacy-First URL Shortener on Blockchain

Описание и применение

Создан приватный сокращатель URL, где клиент шифрует ссылку, хранит её на блокчейне Cronos, а сервер не видит целевой URL.

Задача

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

Результат

The system achieves a privacy‑first URL shortener where the provider never sees destination URLs, no central database exists, and the data is censorship‑resistant.

Рабочий процесс

• 1. User enters a URL in the client UI.
• 2. Client generates a random IV and AES‑GCM key, encrypts the URL with Web Crypto API.
• 3. Encrypted payload is sent to a Cloudflare Worker.
• 4. Worker writes the encrypted data to the Cronos blockchain as a transaction.
• 5. Worker returns a short code (transaction hash or derived ID).
• 6. User shares the short link (e.g., https://cryptly.workers.dev/abc123).
• 7. When the link is visited, the Worker fetches the encrypted payload from the blockchain.
• 8. Browser decrypts the payload locally using the same key and IV, revealing the original URL.
• 9. Browser redirects to the destination URL without the server learning it.

Доказательства

Encrypted URL stored on Cronos blockchain

Источник

Server never sees destination

Источник