EU Grant - NGI Trustchain
About
The NGI Trustchain initiative, co-funded by the European Commission, is a cornerstone of the Next Generation Internet movement. It is dedicated to fostering the development and widespread adoption of blockchain and other decentralized technologies. The core vision of NGI Trustchain is to fundamentally re-imagine and re-engineer the internet's architecture, transforming it into a more open, transparent, trustworthy, and user-centric ecosystem. This grant empowers innovators and researchers to build the foundational components of a more resilient and human-centric digital future.
Research Focus Areas
Our work within NGI TrustChain is structured as focused system explorations. Each project acts as a testbed for rethinking core internet primitives—identity, communication, and data ownership.
DECAST — Decentralized Communication Infrastructure
DECAST explores what real-time communication looks like when built on decentralized primitives.
It replaces platform-dependent video systems with a modular stack where:
- identity is user-controlled
- access is verifiable
- storage is distributed
- Authentication
Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) enable self-sovereign identity. - Verification
Cross-chain validation allows identity and access to move across ecosystems. - Accessibility
Decentralized storage ensures persistent, tamper-resistant media.
- Token-gated virtual events
- Verifiable classrooms and credentials
- Secure, auditable communication environments
Most communication systems today are built on centralized control layers.
DECAST shifts this model toward:
- resilience over uptime dependency
- ownership over access permissions
- verification over trust assumptions
Communication infrastructure has been abstracted away as a service.
DECAST reintroduces it as a system.
Research Documents
Results and Outcomes
Projects like DECAST demonstrate how these ideas translate into working systems—moving from abstract decentralization principles to deployable infrastructure. As a proud participant in the NGI Trustchain program, Leren Labs has made significant contributions to the advancement of decentralized solutions for a better internet. Our work, directly supported by this grant, focuses on developing infrastructure-level systems and practical frameworks that enhance security, privacy, and user control. The outcomes of our research and development help create a more resilient, secure, and transparent digital ecosystem for everyone, paving the way for novel applications and services that are built on a foundation of trust.
Design with the Stack
Whether you're exploring new architectures, need expert guidance, or want to build production systems - we're ready to collaborate.