A Formal Architecture for Privacy-Preserving Credential Verification Using Blockchain and Zero-Knowledge Proofs

This paper addresses the challenge of designing secure and private digital credentialing systems by leveraging advanced mathematical primitives from applied cryptography. The core of our proposed solution is the application of Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), a class of cryptographic protocols that allows for the verification of assertions without disclosing the underlying secret data. We introduce a formal, layered architecture that demonstrates how the mathematical properties of ZKPs can be systematically translated into a robust, large-scale information system. The framework's design is validated against the complex requirements of the academic domain, which serves as a rigorous testbed for our architectural approach. The primary contribution is a blueprint for integrating complex cryptographic protocols into practical system design, demonstrating how mathematical guarantees of privacy can be preserved in a distributed and verifiable manner. This work provides a novel contribution at the intersection of applied cryptography, system architecture, and information security.