A Study of Bluetooth Access Control Based on NFT Soft Pairing
2026-08-24 • Cryptography and Security
Cryptography and Security
AI summaryⓘ
The authors propose a new way to control Bluetooth access using NFTs, which are unique digital tokens on a blockchain. Instead of automatically giving access when devices pair via Bluetooth, their system uses special tokens to separately manage who can connect. They use three layers: one for Bluetooth connections, one for blockchain verification, and one where NFTs define access rules. Their prototype shows this method can securely allow or block access, update permissions when needed, and work efficiently on Ethereum.
Bluetooth pairingNon-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)blockchainauthorizationERC1155MetaMaskchallenge-response authenticationEthereumaccess control
Authors
Zhiming Liang, Bin Chen, Ruijun Wu, Zhe Peng, Chen Sun, Shuo Wang
Abstract
This paper proposes a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) soft pairing framework for Bluetooth service access control. Unlike conventional Bluetooth systems where pairing implicitly grants persistent service access, the proposed approach decouples native Bluetooth pairing from authorization without modifying the underlying protocol stack. The framework introduces a three-layer architecture consisting of a Bluetooth layer for connectivity, a blockchain layer for trusted execution and on-chain state verification, and an application layer where NFT soft pairing defines the authorization logic. In this design, Non-Fungible Bluetooth Tokens (NFBTs) represent user-side access credentials, while Non-Fungible Device Tokens (NFDTs) represent device identities. Their bidirectional on-chain binding forms a revocable and verifiable NFT soft pairing relationship. During access, users prove ownership of valid NFBTs through challenge-response signatures, and devices verify the corresponding on-chain state before granting service access. A prototype implemented with MetaMask and Ethereum demonstrates secure authentication, dynamic revocation, acceptable latency, and gas-efficient credential issuance based on ERC1155.