FlexiRand: Output Private (Distributed) VRFs and Application to Blockchains
Aniket Kate, Easwar Vivek Mangipudi, Siva Maradana, Pratyay Mukherjee · 2023
Web3 applications based on blockchains regularly need access to randomness that is unbiased, unpredictable, and publicly verifiable. For Web3 gaming applications, this becomes a crucial selling point to attract more users by providing credibility to the "random reward" distribution feature. A verifiable random function (VRF) protocol satisfies these requirements naturally, and there is a tremendous rise in the use of VRF services. As most blockchains cannot maintain the secret keys required for VRFs, Web3 applications interact with external VRF services via a smart contract where a VRF output is exchanged for a fee. While this smart contract-based plain-text exchange offers the much-needed public verifiability immediately, it severely limits the way the requester can employ the VRF service: the requests cannot be made in advance, and the output cannot be reused. This introduces significant latency and monetary overhead.