Expanding Federated Learning using Distributed Ledger Technologies for Resilience
Narinder K. Seera1, Ms. Harsha Aggarwal2
1Associate Professor, 2Assistant Professor
1,2Institute of Innovation in Technology & Management, Janakpuri, New Delhi
Abstract: Federated Learning (FL) has emerged as a distributed platform for machine learning models that ensures users’ data privacy, however trained models are vulnerable to challenges such as unreliable clients, single points of failure (server), data poisoning, and trust issues among clients. To address these issues, DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) offers resilience by providing transparency among clients, decentralized model aggregation, and tamper-proof transaction recording. Integrating DLT with FL not only ensures secure and verifiable model updates but also enhances fault tolerance through consensus mechanisms. This research is an attempt to explore how blockchain-based DLT architecture can strengthen the resilience of trained models by providing security and reliability in heterogeneous environments. The chapter discusses the components of the DLT-based architecture and how resilience is ensured.
Keywords: Federated Learning, Distributed Ledgers, Smart Contracts, Blockchain, Model Aggregation
References:
- Peteiro-Barral, D., & Guijarro-Berdiñas, B. (2013). A survey of methods for distributed machine learning. Progress in Artificial Intelligence, 2(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13748-012-0035-5
- Kairouz, P., McMahan, H. B., Avent, B., Bellet, A., Bennis, M., Bhagoji, A. N., Bonawitz, K., Charles, Z., Cormode, G., Cummings, R., D'Oliveira, R. G. L., Eichner, H., Rouayheb, S. E., Evans, D., Gardner, J., Garrett, Z., Gascón, A., Ghazi, B., Gibbons, P. B., ... Zhao, S. (2021). Advances and Open Problems in Federated Learning (No. arXiv:1912.04977). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1912.04977
- Soltani, R., Zaman, M., Joshi, R., & Sampalli, S. (2022). Distributed Ledger Technologies and Their Applications: A Review. Applied Sciences, 12(15), 7898. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12157898
- Li, K. (2025). A Blockchain-Integrated Federated Learning Approach for Secure Data Sharing and Privacy Protection in Multi-Device Communication. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 39(1), 2442770. https://doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2024.2442770
- Cachin, C., & Vukolić, M. (2017). Blockchain Consensus Protocols in the Wild (No. arXiv:1707.01873). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1707.01873
- Imteaj, A., Khan, I., Khazaei, J., & Amini, M. H. (2021). FedResilience: A Federated Learning Application to Improve Resilience of Resource-Constrained Critical Infrastructures. Electronics, 10(16), 1917. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10161917
- Liu, J., Huang, J., Zhou, Y., Li, X., Ji, S., Xiong, H., & Dou, D. (2022). From distributed machine learning to federated learning: A survey. Knowledge and Information Systems, 64(4), 885-917. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10115-022-01664-x
- Jovanovic, Z., Hou, Z., Biswas, K., & Muthukkumarasamy, V. (2024). Robust integration of blockchain and explainable federated learning for automated credit scoring. Computer Networks, 243, 110303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2024.110303
- Ferretti, S., Cassano, L., Cialone, G., D'Abramo, J., & Imboccioli, F. (2025). Decentralized coordination for resilient federated learning: A blockchain-based approach with smart contracts and decentralized storage. Computer Communications, 236, 108112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comcom.2025.108112
- Li, T., Sahu, A. K., Zaheer, M., Sanjabi, M., Talwalkar, A., & Smith, V. (2020). Federated Optimization in Heterogeneous Networks (No. arXiv:1812.06127). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1812.06127
- Cai, H.; Lam, N.S.; Qiang, Y.; Zou, L.; Correll, R.M.; Mihunov, V. A synthesis of disaster resilience measurement methods and indices. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 2018, 31, 844-855.
- Pursiainen, C. Critical infrastructure resilience: A Nordic model in the making? Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 2018, 27, 632-641.
- Alemzadeh, S.; Talebiyan, H.; Talebi, S.; Dueñas-Osorio, L.; Mesbahi, M. Resource Allocation for Infrastructure Resilience using Artificial Neural Networks. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE 32nd International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence(ICTAI), Baltimore, MD, USA, 9-11 November 2020; pp. 617-624.
- Amini, M.H.; Nabi, B.; Haghifam, M.R. Load management using multi-agent systems in smart distribution network. In Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 21-25 July 2013; pp. 1-5.
- Chen, W.; Bhardwaj, K.; Marculescu, R. Fedmax: Mitigating activation divergence for accurate and communication-efficient federated learning. arXiv 2020, arXiv:2004.03657.
- C. Dwork. 'Differential Privacy: A Survey of Results'. In: Theory and Applications of Models of Computation. Ed. by M. Agrawal, D. Du, Z. Duan and A. Li. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2008, pp. 1-19. ISBN: 978-3-540-79228-4.
- P. Paillier. 'Public-key cryptosystems based on composite degree residuosity classes'. In: TAMC. Springer. 1999.
- T. ElGamal. 'A public key cryptosystem and a signature scheme based on discrete logarithms'. In: IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 31.4 (1985), pp. 469-472.
- C. Gentry and D. Boneh. A fully homomorphic encryption scheme. Vol. 20. 9. Stanford University Stanford, 2009.
- I. Damgård, V. Pastro, N. Smart and S. Zakarias. 'Multiparty Computation from Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption'. In: CRYPTO. 2012.
- R. C. Geyer, T. Klein and M. Nabi. 'Differentially private federated learning: A client level perspective'. In: arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.07557 (2017).
- K. Wei, J. Li, M. Ding, C. Ma, H. H. Yang, F. Farokhi, S. Jin, T. Q. Quek and H. V. Poor. 'Federated learning with differential privacy: Algorithms and performance analysis'. In: IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security (2020).
- L. T. Phong, Y. Aono, T. Hayashi, L. Wang and S. Moriai. 'Privacy-Preserving Deep Learning via Additively Homomorphic Encryption'. In: IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security 13.5 (2018), pp. 1333-1345. DOI: 10.1109/TIFS.2017.2787987.
- R. Xu, N. Baracaldo, Y. Zhou, A. Anwar and H. Ludwig. 'HybridAlpha: An Efficient Approach for Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning'. In: The 12th ACM AISec. 2019.
- C. Zhang, S. Li, J. Xia, W. Wang, F. Yan and Y. Liu. 'Batchcrypt: Efficient homomorphic encryption for cross-silo federated learning'. In: {USENIX} ATC. 2020, pp. 493-506.
- Zhao, Y., Li, M., Lai, L., Suda, N., Civin, D., & Chandra, V. (2018). Federated Learning with Non-IID Data. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1806.00582
- Brisimi, T. S., Chen, R., Mela, T., Olshevsky, A., Paschalidis, I. Ch., & Shi, W. (2018). Federated learning of predictive models from federated Electronic Health Records. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 112, 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2018.01.007
- Bhagoji, A. N., Chakraborty, S., Mittal, P., & Calo, S. (2019). Analyzing Federated Learning through an Adversarial Lens (No. arXiv:1811.12470). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1811.12470
- Karimireddy, S. P., Kale, S., Mohri, M., Reddi, S. J., Stich, S. U., & Suresh, A. T. (2021). SCAFFOLD: Stochastic Controlled Averaging for Federated Learning (No. arXiv:1910.06378). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1910.06378
- Minango, J., Carvajal Mora, H., Zambrano, M., Orozco Garzón, N., & Pérez, F. (2025). Distributed Ledger Technology in Healthcare: Enhancing Governance and Performance in a Decentralized Ecosystem. Technologies, 13(2), 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies13020058
- Nezhadsistani, N., Moayedian, N. S., & Stiller, B. (2025). Blockchain-Enabled Federated Learning in Healthcare: Survey and State-of-the-Art. IEEE Access, 13, 119922-119945. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3587345
- Prathiba, S. B., Govindarajan, Y., Pranav Amirtha Ganesan, V., Ramachandran, A., Selvaraj, A. K., Kashif Bashir, A., & Reddy Gadekallu, T. (2024). Fortifying Federated Learning in IIoT: Leveraging Blockchain and Digital Twin Innovations for Enhanced Security and Resilience. IEEE Access, 12, 68968-68980. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3401039
- Javed, A. R., Hassan, M. A., Shahzad, F., Ahmed, W., Singh, S., Baker, T., & Gadekallu, T. R. (2022). Integration of Blockchain Technology and Federated Learning in Vehicular (IoT) Networks: A Comprehensive Survey. Sensors, 22(12), 4394. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22124394
- Ali, M., Karimipour, H., & Tariq, M. (2021). Integration of blockchain and federated learning for Internet of Things: Recent advances and future challenges. Computers & Security, 108, 102355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2021.102355
- Fan, T., Chen, X., Dong, Y., Chen, X., Xuan, Y., & Jing, W. (2024). Lightweight Secure Aggregation for Personalized Federated Learning with Backdoor Resistance. 2024 Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC), 810-825. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACSAC63791.2024.00071
- Li, K., Zhang, Z., Pourkabirian, A., Ni, W., Dressler, F., & Akan, O. B. (2025). Towards Resilient Federated Learning in CyberEdge Networks: Recent Advances and Future Trends (No. arXiv:2504.01240). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2504.01240
- Lu, Y., Huang, X., Dai, Y., Maharjan, S., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Blockchain and Federated Learning for Privacy-Preserved Data Sharing in Industrial IoT. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 16(6), 4177-4186. https://doi.org/10.1109/TII.2019.2942190
- Chatterjee, P., Das, D., & Rawat, D. (2023). Use of Federated Learning and Blockchain towards Securing Financial Services. https://doi.org/10.36227/techrxiv.22155182.v1
- Tao Sun, Dongsheng Li, and Bao Wang (2015), "Decentralized Federated Averaging", Journal of Latex Class Files, Vol 14, No 8, arXiv:2104.11375. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2104.11375
- Huang, X., Ding, Y., Jiang, Z.L. et al. DP-FL: a novel differentially private federated learning framework for the unbalanced data. World Wide Web 23, 2529-2545 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11280-020-00780-4
- Cao, X., Fang, M., Liu, J., & Gong, N. Z. (2022). FLTrust: Byzantine-robust Federated Learning via Trust Bootstrapping (arXiv:2012.13995). https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2012.13995
- Nguyen, J., Malik, K., Zhan, H., Yousefpour, A., Rabbat, M., Malek, M., & Huba, D. (2022). Federated Learning with Buffered Asynchronous Aggregation (arXiv:2106.06639). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2106.06639
