Blockchain-based verification of academic credentials: A multi-node consensus approach using MultiChain

Abstract

Forgery of academic certificates and the absence of an independent, third-party-free mechanism to verify their authenticity remain persistent problems for universities, employers, and regulatory bodies. Traditional attestation relies on physical signatures and centralized record-keeping, both of which are vulnerable to tampering, loss, and collusion. This paper presents a blockchain-based academic credential verification system built on the MultiChain platform that organizes participants into a hierarchical, permissioned network rooted at a Higher Education Commission (HEC) node, followed by university admin nodes and their respective departmental child nodes. Certificate upload requests are subjected to a 51% node-majority consensus mechanism within each university group before being permanently committed to the blockchain, ensuring that no single actor can unilaterally issue or alter a credential. A public verification portal, implemented using Flask and hosted independently of any single institution, allows any individual or organization worldwide to instantly verify a student's degree by submitting their Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) number, without needing to contact the issuing institution. The system was implemented using Python, Flask, and MultiChain 2.0, and tested through a complete certificate lifecycle: submission, multi-node voting, consensus-based approval, and public retrieval. Results confirm that the system successfully prevents unilateral document forgery, provides tamper-evident and immutable storage of academic records, and enables one-click, lifetime-valid verification. The proposed architecture demonstrates a practical, institution-agnostic path toward eliminating credential fraud while decentralizing trust away from any single authority.