Public Channel-Based Fair Exchange Protocols with Advertising

Before a fair exchange takes place, there is typically an advertisement phase with the goal of increasing the appeal of possessing a digital asset while keeping it sufficiently hidden. In this work, we give a definition that explicitly combines a fair-exchange protocol with a prior advertising phase. Then, we construct such a fair exchange protocol with aids using zk-SNARKs and relying on mainstream decentralized platforms (i.e., a blockchain with smart contracts like Ethereum and a decentralized storage system like IPFS). Experimental results confirm the practical relevance of our decentralized approach, paving the road towards building decentralized marketplaces where users can, even anonymously, and without direct off-chain communications, effectively advertise and exchange their digital assets as part of a system of enhanced NFTs.