DLT concepts & principles

Key Points

  1. blockchain at a minimum is DLT - distributed ledger technology
  2. an immutable ledger provides a trusted ledger of transactions for all participants in the network
  3. like any technology, blockchain can add real value when applied correctly to the right use cases
  4. public blockchains
    1. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the 2 most popular public blockchains
    2. Ethereum offers smart contracts to provide common business logic controls on transactions
    3. Ethereum could also be implemented as a private blockchain when needed
    4. public blockchains allow anyone to participate
    5. public blockchains normally provide a degree of anonymity for participants but everyone can see all transactions
    6. public blockchains with a high number of commit nodes typically have poor performance
  5. permissioned blockchains
    1. permissioned blockchains are normally private and require participants to enroll through member services
    2. permissioned blockchains require read and write permissions to access the blockchain
    3. permissioned blockchains normally have identified participants
    4. participants are added through membership services
    5. transactions may be private between specific participants but macro demand is often public


References

Reference_description_with_linked_URLs______________________________Notes_______________________________________________________

DLT concepts & principles notes v9b  gdoc ***

Detail gdoc on DLT Concepts ***


Fabric    m Fabric Tutorials   Hyperledger Fabric Performance m Fabric Concepts 2
Firefly  Firefly: Web3 Blockchain framework
Firefly training 
Chaise free blockchain cert courses  free training w cert **
DAML DAML - Blockchain DSL and runtime services - Fabric, Corda, Besu, Postgres
Besu m Besu
Corda Corda


Innovating with DLT - DTCC Mike Bodson Video at CordaCon - 2021


Web3 and decentralized blockchain visions are confusedWeb3 confusion - What is it? **

Jack Dorsey says Web3 DLT not decentralized enough - 12/22/21

Web3-blockchain-too-centralized-211222-theverge-Jack Dorseys hot Web3 takes are apparently too much for Marc Andreessen to handle.pdf

Is Web3 blockchain too centralized? Jack Dorsey


https://www.slideshare.net/DevdattaAjgaonkar/introduction-to-blockchain-194331423Blockchain, Bitcoin, Crypto, Smart Contract concepts slideshare
https://www.slideshare.net/Synerzip/blockchain-application-development-101Blockchain App Development Concepts 101 - slideshare - sweetbridge


https://wiki.hyperledger.org/display/fabric/Design+DocumentsFabric design documents wiki
https://jira.hyperledger.org/secure/Dashboard.jspa?selectPageId=11700#Filter
-Results/12515
Fabric release planning dashboard
https://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com/small-business-article/blockchain-
is-here-are-you-ready-3330

Blockchain concepts and assessment

Jim Blasingame (smallbusinessadvocate.com/). He has just released a three-part series on blockchain that is excellent, and each is a quick read. #1 Blockchain is here - are you ready, #2 Blockchain isn't the end of trust, it is the future of trust, and #3 Your Blockchain close encounter of the first kind. Here is the first article, and I will let you find the next two on his site. Great work, Jim... https://lnkd.in/eJ8qGBE

Blockchain Glossary 2023

blockchain-glossary-linkedin-2023.pdf  link

blockchain-glossary-linkedin-2023.pdf. file






Training materials on Fabric




https://medium.com/coinmonks/build-a-blockchain-poc-application-using-
hyperledger-fabric-6bbe633c2204

Build a Blockchain PoC Application using Hyperledger Fabric
Don Li

https://www.udemy.com/course/blockchain-for-digital-transformation/learn/lecture/25252334#overviewBaijiu Udemy course Digital Transformation with Blockchain






Crypto Notes
https://blockgeeks.com/guides/security-tokens-explained/Security Tokens - regulated assets, peg to fiat ?
https://blockstack.org/

Blockstack - Development stack for Dapps - compare to Truffle

uses mining, tokens, etc

http://incomelion.com/how-bitcoin-transactions-work/?ref=quuu&utm_content=buffer6b6d6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=
linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer
How Bitcoin works - High level concepts
https://docs.blockstack.org/browser/hello-blockstack.htmlBlockstack tutorials
https://blockstack.github.io/blockstack.js/Blockstack js services - useful interface model


Other Hyperledger Notes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/29/what-do-people-misunderstand
-about-blockchain-technology/#447341245e39
Jerry Cuomo on common blockchain misconceptions


Other Blockchain Concepts
Blockchain Protocols & Layers - 2023 - Anthony Day

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/utxo.asp


UXTOamount of digital currency someone has left remaining after executing a cryptocurrency transaction
Each bitcoin transaction begins with coins used to balance the ledger. UTXOs are processed continuously and are responsible for beginning and ending each transaction. Although confirmation of transaction results in the removal of spent coins from the UTXO database, a record of the spent coins still exists on the ledger. 
https://medium.com/coinmonks/public-vs-private-blockchain-in-a-nutshell-c9fe284fa39fpublic vs private blockchains revisited
mirbft-meetup-presentation.pdf


DAO concepts
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2021/06/01/what-are-daos-and-why-you-should-pay-attention/?sh=7fec21dc7305
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_autonomous_organization


CBDC projects


cbdc-hungarian-meetup-220511.pdfProject Juno Moneta - Cross-Border CBDC use case and demo - Hungary - Hyperledger group







Key Concepts



ODP - Open DLT Platform Concepts


Blockchain Protocols & Layers Summary - 2023 - Anthony Day


we've seen many different generations of 'Blockchain' and distributed ledger over the last 15 years or so. Some have been an improvement on the past, some have been replicas, some have 'forked' from others (branching code to take a different design direction). And there will be more to come.

🫡 The good people at CMS have broken this out into Layer 0 to Layer 3, and below I've added a short summary of 'why' these different layers in the Blockchain architecture exist, and what the benefits are:

1️⃣ Layer 1 - The 'original' Blockchains were typically L1s and provide all elements of consensus, network structure, security and transaction systems. Some have a single function (often called 'appchains' - you could argue Bitcoin is an example, although ordinals and BRC-20 fans may beg to differ) whereas others like Ethereum are seen as L1s on which you can launch many different applications.

0️⃣ Layer 0 - Why didn't I start with this? Well, it's helpful to know the components of a Layer 1 to then know how a Layer 0 helps. These Blockchains were developed later to allow for greater innovation and interoperability of Layer 1 chains. Layer 0's like Polkadot provide a protocol on which to launch Layer 1s that have shared security (faster to scale) and have a common protocol for messaging and transactions between chains (less bridges, better UX, lower cost)

2️⃣ Layer 2 - These Blockchains are typically used for scaling (e.g. increasing transaction throughput) of Layer 1 chains by aggregating multiple transactions, then 'anchoring' them to the 'main' chain. L2s can also add new functionality, such as private transactions (e.g. zero knowledge proofs)

3️⃣ Layer 3 - Albeit a relatively new 'layer' term, the constituents of Layer 3 are typically decentralised applications (dApps) that run on top of Blockchains, making use of the protocols' features (e.g. tokenisation, smart contracts). This layers is typically where users, customers and businesses engage with Web3. Importantly, Layer 3 is also where Certificates (credentials, proofs, authorisations) exist.

💡 Like it or not, we need all these layers in Web3, as well as non-Blockchain infrastructure, to enable usable, scalable and unstoppable applications and experiences. It's just that most non-technical humans in the world don't really need to know (or care) about what happens in Layers 0, 1 and 2...

diagram



DLT Concept tasks

  1. check the executive summary and pillars list
  2. complete the key adds
  3. answer the key questions
  4. set the topic levels 0,1,2,3
  5. atomic swaps - corda, besu, firefly


Lithium files

lithium-diagrams-v1 ilnk

lithium-diagrams-v1.pptx file

DLT Concepts documents

DLT concepts & principles notes v9b  gdoc ***


dlt_concepts_topics-v1.xlsx file

DLT concepts & principles notes v9b.docx  file

DLT concepts & principles notes v9.pdf

DLT concepts & principles notes v9b.pdf file

DLT concepts temp v9.docx


DLT concepts & principles notes gdoc

DLT concepts & principles notes.pdf  file

DLT concepts & principles notes.pdf link

DLT concepts temp v5.docx

DLT concepts temp v5.pdf

DLT concepts temp v6.docx

DLT concepts temp v6.2.docx

DLT concepts temp v6.2.pdf

DLT concepts temp 7.docx

DLT concepts temp 7.pdf

DLT concepts temp v8.docx




DLT Concepts - glossary.xlsx

DLT Concepts - glossary.pdf


DLT work book file

DLT_note1-concepts.pdf


Temp concept file

DLT concepts temp.pdf

DLT concepts work2.pdf

DLT concept files list

_dltn-compare-dlts.csv

_dltn-dlt-api-compare.csv

      



Logical Blockchain Network View for Consortia


 



Decentralized Autonomous Organization ( DAO )

https://consensys.net/blog/blockchain-explained/what-is-a-dao-and-how-do-they-work/


A DAO, or “Decentralized Autonomous Organization,” is a community-led entity with no central authority. It is fully autonomous and transparent: smart contracts lay the foundational rules, execute the agreed upon decisions, and at any point, proposals, voting, and even the very code itself can be publicly audited.

Ultimately, a DAO is governed entirely by its individual members who collectively make critical decisions about the future of the project, such as technical upgrades and treasury allocations.


  • Does any portion of the network operations model benefit from DAO concepts?


MakerDAO - a decentralized autonomous organization governed by voters with core principles

https://makerdao.com/en/

https://blog.makerdao.com/foundation-proposal-v2/

a stable coin DAI that provides decentralized governance model.

net value ??  you decide.


Uniswap - a DEX run as a DAO unlke most crypto exchanges


DAO Decentralization Concepts

DAO Degrees of Decentralization Concepts - linkedin

dao-degrees-of-decentrailzation-2023.pdf link

dao-degrees-of-decentrailzation-2023.pdf file

What is a DAO?

A decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, is an organization that operates based on rules or protocols that are agreed upon by the participants, are encoded on a blockchain, and are executed through smart contracts. DAOs allow people to pool resources toward a common goal and share in value creation with the promise of less hierarchy and centralization, more transparency and efficiency, and more cohesive communities than current organizations.

DAOs are in theory decentralized because, unlike traditional corporations or limited partnerships that delegate most decision making exclusively to a board of directors or general partner, DAOs are governed collectively by their members, without a central authority. DAOs are also autonomous because their protocols rely on smart contracts stored on a blockchain that automatically runs once certain predetermined conditions are met – to execute agreed-upon decisions. Thus, DAOs, like smart contracts, are transparent, publicly auditable, and do not rely on a single or central authority to function. This arrangement facilitates what is known as a “trustless” system, which is often thought to be essential for the proper functioning of a decentralized, digitally-native community. This leads many to consider DAOs to be important components of a web3 economy and society

Feature________________________________Corporations___________DAO____________________VCN__________________________
Organized as a consortium of independent organizationsyes - corporationsyes - organizationsyes - organizations and companies
Identity issued by government authoritiesyesnoboth
Operations subject to government regulationyesyesyes
Management controlgroupgroupgroup
Requires decentralized DLT platformoptionalyesflexible
Group has shared goalssomesomesome
Members operate independently under group rulesyesyesyes
Counter party activities are legally bindingyesyesyes
Counter party activities done in smart contractsnoyesboth
Supports shared public datayesyesyes
Supports data privacy for authorized partiesyesyesyes
Group operations auditedby outside auditorsby smart contract complianceby smart contract, auditors as needed
Relies on a central organization for governanceyesnomaybe


Other DAO reports



DLT SDP Solution Capabilities Concepts

https://docs.google.com/document/d/112-MCDKhqz0-aQqjHXboVWsEO15ygtM5eU_ZzC5Svg4/edit#


A DAAS - DLT as a service concept


Basic DLT networks provide a decentralized ledger services network

Real solutions are more complex

Vendors recognize this and are trying to create vendor specific DAAS - DLT AS A SERVICE

DA has Canton

Kaleido has SuperNodes

R3 has Corda 5 Layers

I have my own layered DAAS model >>  FSN 

It includes decentrailzed, transparent governance ( VCN not a  DAO )


DAAS conceptual layers 


  • Governance and the economic model
  • Members
  • Apps 
  • Event Work Flows
  • Gateways and Sessions
  • Services
  • Content Types: Transactions, Data, Objects, Files, Messages, Streams
  • Contract for content types
  • Operations
  • Node messages
  • Peer messages


What responsibilities are required at each layer?

Requests are processed up and down the stack as app agents communicate

Analyze responsibilities by layer and operations for a given use case in sequence diagrams

Governance policies are supported at each layer

Add appropriate NFRs to each layer



FSN - Financial Services Network = a network services mall


FSN ( Financial Services Net ) model = the network mall with stores


A logical business service ( of potentially many business services ) on a common financial services internet ( FSN ) linking many financial system networks ( crypto nets, payment services nets, banks CBDC nets etc ) for any asset or product type. The FSN is a financial services network set of common capabilities interfaces that can map to many platforms via specific adapters ( AWS, IBM, Google, Azure, Rackspace, On-prem etc ). The FSN is the financial services mall, The FSP ( Financial Services Providers ) are the stores on the mall. A mall provides a lot of core capability stores don't have to implement ( saves cost, time, risk ). It also  provides a larger audience with more choices for the consumer increasing competition. The network mall provides an operational and governance capability across the services malls that are connected.

What makes a network services mall competitive?

An accessible, open, extensible, transparent, decentralized, sustainable, efficient, low-risk governance and operations
model. You're welcome.




DLT solution are often more complex architecture, admin and operations model and a simplified programming model today


Look at the SDP life cycle for a DLT solution for each role ( developer, architect, engineer, admin, QA, support, user etc ). How strong is the solution model?  Are there critical gaps that are not addressable? 


There are differences between the providers and consumer roles to consider for a solution.

Key Capabilities needed for DLT use cases include:

    • Review the Fabric features list to see which are supported
    • Standard DLT capabilities
    • Logical vs Physical DLT network  services and roles with gateway and network views
    • Event-Driven Distributed Work flow 
    • Integration for off-chain services and data ( messages, APIs, data services, rpc )
    • Support for external services providers ( Accounts, Identities, Membership, etc )
    • Private data support policy driven by use case scenario
    • Off-chain data and document services integration and distribution
    • Support for policy-driven retry, replay, rollback, recovery
    • Token support and integration
    • Payment and currency services integrations
    • Identity options
    • Account options
    • Authorization options
    • Membership models by entity, organization units, individuals and accounts
    • CA and Key management support and integration
    • Flexible, mutable Data stores 
    • World state support separate from Ledger
    • Key Rotation Isolation from Ledger
    • Escrow support
    • Event support as producer, consumer
    • Extensibility for DSL
    • Contract life cycle support and version management and mutation policies
    • Multi-party contracts by role with related privacy policy visibility and enforcement
    • Contract governance



Key NFR capabilities for DLT solutions include:

  • Engagement
  • Incentives
  • Security
  • Scalability and performance
  • Resiliency
  • Trust
  • Quality
  • Value



OCP - the Open Common Platform - a decentralized common services layer built on DLT NG designed for change


Service Use Case Delivery Types delivered synchronous or asynchronous

Batch - services run in batch mode either periodically or on-demand triggered by events

Real-time - services run in real time either continuously or on-demand based on event streams


DLT NG - DLT Next Gen for more use case models with open, sustainable platform designed for change


Tier 0 Principles for Service Level Objectives - SLO

  1. always runs - never fails to deliver on SLO ( regardless of operational issues )
  2. always on
  3. always secure
  4. always accurate
  5. always trusted
  6. always understood
  7. always responsible
  8. always accountable
  9. always private
  10. always transparent
  11. always useful
  12. always smart


key questions for T0 SLO

  1. does the use case require it?
  2. what are the SLOs ?
  3. does the current solution meet the SLOs ?
  4. what is the target runtime environment (s) for the SLOs ?
  5. what the operations SLOs ?
  6. what are the operations responsibilities to meet the SLOs ?
  7. what is the client experience to date? how can it be improved?
  8. what operational opportunities for improvement exist?
  9. who is the target audience? what level of use has been achieved? how can that be improved?


Cloud Services Models


cloud-xaas-models-compared-cf.PNG


Structured Platforms

  1. Abstract the operational processes of application deployment away from developers and app teams.
  2. Can be deployed across private and public clouds
  3. Capabilities like service brokers, monitoring, scaling, etc. are integrated natively.
  4. Examples: Cloud Foundry Application runtime, red Hat openShift, Apprenda, etc.


UnStructured Platforms

  1. Provide control and autonomy for app teams and developers over app deployment workflow.
  2. Can be deployed across private and public clouds.
  3. Capabilities like service brokers, monitoring, scaling, etc. must be developed or delivered by additional services.
  4. Examples:Cloud Foundry Container runtime, kubernetes, Mesosphere, Docker, Tectonic, etc.


Kubernetes Fabric Deployment workshop

https://github.com/aidtechnology/hgf-k8s-workshop/tree/master/prod_example

Covers manual setup of a blockchain network, kafka, kubernetes, CA administration etc



Public vs Private Blockchains Revisited - 2019 article

https://medium.com/coinmonks/public-vs-private-blockchain-in-a-nutshell-c9fe284fa39f


Brian Behlendorf - 2018

  • public or private defines who can read the blockchain
  • permissionless or permissioned defines who can write to the blockchain

The open versus closed brings in to consideration who’s able to read that data.

And so, we can talk about solutions which are public and open, public and closed, private and open, private and closed.

replace open / closed with permissionless / permissioned in the chart below ...


Pubilc blockchains can be permissioned ( eg Ethereum ) but lack the tools Hyperledger, Corda provide

Public blockchains normally provide anonymity.  Private blockchains require identified participants.

Private blockchains need identity management

Most of the time, private blockchains tend to come with identity management tools or a modular architecture, where you can plug in your own identity management solution. This can be anything from a Membership Service Provider to an OAuth solution using Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Motivations in public blockchain

We rely on economics and game theory incentives to ensure that everybody in the system behaves honestly and according to the rules.

We set up situations through group consensus, through which honest participants are economically rewarded, where dishonest ones only incur work or cost, with no possibility of ever recouping that cost.

Motivations in private blockchain

we know who an individual is, what organisation they’re associated with and what their role is, we also assume that they’re going to behave fairly, because if not, we know exactly who’s misbehaving and they know that they’re gonna suffer the consequences for that.

False assumption on who can see transactions in private blockchain

Transactions are not publicly viewable (transparent) in the blockchain, and only selected nodes can access the ledger.

Examples include: R3 Corda, which can transact between nodes, and the rest of the blockchain does not participate

Fabric allows control over what transactions and related demand are visible to others on a blockchain


Good article on basic concepts of public — private and permissionless —  permissioned blockchain features. Nicely shows they address different use cases normally. When I look at use cases, I find Hyperledger Fabric provides the granularity and options to address a very wide set. A good example in the article is transaction data. With Fabric, I can decide on a supply chain what data is private and what is shared with everyone ( usually macro demand ).

A private, permissioned blockchain is more than just a secure database. It provides the provenance and proofs on transactions that increase trust among participants.




DLT Solution Design Principles Outline


Reviewing the Solution Design Principles list can be useful to discover some key aspects of DLT that may add value to specific use cases. For a given use case, not all of the design principles may be useful. Focus on those that are.


Value Chain Network ( VCN )

What is a value chain network?

Some business networks can be more effective adding DLT solutions to operate the network more effectively, mitigate risks and improve trust among participants as a digital network. More than DLT, the network members can review the existing business operations design to see how it can be re-engineered to deliver more value by re-examining the roles, responsibilities, processes and controls that define the network.

VCN offers more flexibility than DAO when needed


DLT decision trees - when DLT is the right answer


There are different benefits possible for DLT in a given use case.

The value for DLT as a solution over other options depends on whether DLT benefits are better than other options.

On area DLT tends to win on most of the time is trust.

Often DLT solutions can provide better trust than other solutions.

Trust Engineering is Key to Better Solutions, Governance

What can you trust? Who can you trust? When and where can you trust?  How can you trust?

In today's world, trust may be the biggest need and the biggest problem of all in every domain.


DLT trust engineering template v1 gsheet link

Proof TypeUse Case Requires
Proof Details
Ledger - proof transactions not changedyes
Ledger - proof transactions not changed since write by smart contract provides a historically accurate record of every transaction state that has occurred




Distributed - proof data has been sharedyes
Distributed - proof data has been shared to authorized parties



each organization has direct access to it’s authorized data from the DLT




Decentralized - proof the DLT governance is sharedno
Decentralized - proof the DLT governance is shared by members



Governance of a DLT network can be centralized or decentralized to fit the specific use case. With decentralized governance, control and management responsibilities are shared by multiple parties.




Secure protocols - proof transactions not tampered withyes
Secure protocols - proof transactions not tampered with during processing



ensures bad actors can access transaction data in flight or at rest




Signed transactions - proof who created transactionyes
Signed transactions - proof who created transaction



verifies the authorized account that signs a transaction showing who created it.



A witness may validate the transaction signature.




Transaction Validation - proof transaction was independently validatedyes
Transaction Validation - proof transaction was independently validated



Some DLTs allow flexible endorsement policies by multiple validators or endorsers. DLTs also support different methods for reaching transaction consensus. Some consensus methods add significant overhead reducing transaction performance for those networks compared to others using different methods. Replay attacks are prevented ( the “double spend” problem).




Smart Contracts - proof reads and writes to the ledger enforce business rulesyes
Smart Contracts - proof reads and writes to the ledger enforce business rules



authorized user can execute a smart contract to create signed ledger transactions that is reviewed and approved by the assigned network validators before its committed reducing significant data threats from bad actors. On transaction finalization, the contract can return a result and / or fire an event to listeners depending on the DLT platform.



Smart contracts can also query ledger transactions relatively efficiently.




Transaction Completion - proof a write transaction was approved, committedyes
Transaction Completion - proof a write transaction was approved, committed



DLTs have custom transaction life cycles. DLTs don’t normally use blocks or consensus for transactions.



Blockchains will cover these basic steps on active ledger hosts:



Submit a proposed transaction from an application to a smart contract



Validate the transaction inputs



Execute the transaction generating outputs



Order the transaction output into a transaction block ( blockchain only )



Add the block to ledger



Return a transaction and block ID to the client application indicating the transaction has been posted to the ledger successfully or an error




Private Data - proof only authorized parties can see datayes
Private Data - proof only authorized parties can see data



only authorized accounts can view the transaction details on the DLT ( eg a buyer and a seller can see a trade but no one else has access to the trade details )




Permissioned Access - proof that authorized parties only have accessyes
Permissioned Access - proof that authorized parties only have access to DLT



for Secure Financial Systems. At a minimum, registered users have accounts with assigned public and private keys. Authentication methods may include access to the private key and or MFA ( Multi-Factor authentication methods ).




Token Transfers - proof buyer, seller conditions were met on contract executionyes
Token Transfers - proof buyer, seller conditions were met on contract execution



Larger platforms are adding flexible support for custom tokens with policy and privacy support for many token operations ( issue, redeem, transfer ).


TOIP Trust Types

https://skywebteam.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KHUB/pages/481624152/m+TOIP+Trust+Over+IP#mTOIPTrustOverIP-Jim'sTrustConcepts-WhatifItoldyou..


DLT - should it be used, when, where and how is really a trust engineering problem

For a given use case(s) and context, 

  1. who are the parties?
  2. what are the roles and responsibilities?
  3. what are the actions and decisions needed?
  4. what information is needed and when during processes in scope?
  5. what trusts are missing? 
  6. what proofs are needed to establish trusts?


Is DLT the right solution to improve a Business Value Chain Network?

  1. Is a shared, persistent data store useful? Maybe
  2. Is there a need for shared data and data privacy? Maybe
  3. Is improving trust and transparency in our business network a goal? Maybe
  4. Is a complete, accurate historical record of all changes useful? Maybe
  5. Is tracking consent, agreement and signatures important? Maybe
  6. Is reducing friction, risk and settlement times important? Maybe
  7. Are the transactions supporting business contracts? Probably
  8. Are compliance and audit important? Probably
  9. Do multiple parties need to add data or process transactions? Probably

If half of these factors apply to your use case, DLT may add a lot of value


Has the  business network design been re-engineered leveraging DLT?

What new opportunities are discovered with digital, tokenized assets?

How does a VCN improve trust among parties?


Gartner decision tree when to use DLT

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/avivahlitan_crypto-blockchain-web3-activity-6985678042496933888-QTTX?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

 




Distributed Ledger

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialsector/brief/blockchain-dlt


Blockchain is one type of a distributed ledger. Distributed ledgers use independent computers (referred to as nodes) to record, share and synchronize transactions in their respective electronic ledgers (instead of keeping data centralized as in a traditional ledger). Blockchain organizes data into blocks, which are chained together in an append only mode.


  1. How is the Distributed Ledger more effective in the network than existing distributed data solutions? ( ETL, data replication, messaging etc )
  2. Do the features of a specific distributed ledger meet the use case requirements for scale, performance, transaction confirmation that other options provide?
  3. Is the Distributed Ledger easier to maintain than other alternatives?
  4. Is policy decision making and policy management more challenging in the Distributed Ledger than alternate solutions?


Roles

For a given DLT use case, organizations in the network often operate in different roles. A supply chain, for example, may have: growers, packers, shippers, manufacturers, distributors etc.


  1. What are the business roles in the network?
  2. Who governs the network business operations? 
  3. Who governs the DLT physical network operations?
  4. Are roles formal or informally defined, assigned to organizations?
  5. Are there regulations and compliance policies associated with roles?


Identity



  1. How are organizations identified in the network?
  2. How are users in the network identified?
  3. What identity methods are used?




Enrollments



  1. Are there different types of enrollments for users and organizations?
  2. Are there differences in organizations that require different enrollment methods?
  3. Are enrollments managed in the DLT network?
  4. Are enrollments managed by outside services ( eg Directory Services etc )?
  5. What are enrollment policies?
  6. Have they been effective?



Authentication



  1. How are organizations authenticated on the network?


Credentials


  1. What credential types are issued on the network by role?
  2. What policies govern credential issuance, revocation?
  3. What organizations issue credentials?
  4. Is consent for credential issuance tracked?
  5. Has credentials management been effective?
  6. How are credentials used at runtime?
  7. How are credentials validated at runtime?


Authorization




Assets


Are assets digital only?

Are assets digital twins of physical assets?

How are assets tracked on the network?

Are assets registered individually?

Are assets unique ( non-fungible )?


Access




Tokenization


  1. How are tokens used on the network?
  2. Do the token types match the Token Taxonomy Framework from Interwork.org?


Transaction Services




Transaction Consensus


  1. What consensus policies are used for DLT transactions on the network?

Transaction Persistence


  1. What persistence stores are used in the solutions ( DLT and conventional )?

Transaction Immutability


  1. Are transactions immutable or tamper-resistant?
  2. What transaction integrity threats have been identified? Mitigated?
  3. How can transaction tampering be identified?
  4. Have transaction recovery plans been validated?


Coordination


  1. For different use cases, what coordination of parties is needed on the network?
  2. Are different processes coordinated manually or automatically?
  3. What opportunities for improvement on coordination exist for use cases?
  4. Are there information gaps now for effective, timely actions by responsible parties?
  5. Is it clear who has what responsibilities for each process?
  6. Are omni-channel communications needed for effective coordination of parties?


Transparency


  1. Based on the business network roles, what information is shared by role for the use cases?
  2. What is the value and risks for sharing the data?
  3. Is the processing history clear and traceable for all authorized parties?



Privacy



  1. What data privacy regulations are in effect for the network ( GDPR, CCPA or )?
  2. Is PII ( Personal identity Information ) stored off-chain or on-chain?
  3. How is privacy compliance monitored? Managed?
  4. Have breaches of PII occurred?
  5. What is the plan to prevent, monitor PII data protection?
  6. What legal liabilities exist for data privacy?
  7. What consents have users provided on data privacy and security?



Security



  1. What is the security strategy for the network?
  2. What security policies manage the network parties?
  3. How are network sessions secured?
  4. How is data in-flight protected?
  5. How is data at-rest protected?
  6. How is data in-process protected? ( TEE or ? )
  7. What risks exist for data on the DLT network?
  8. How are those risks mitigated?
  9. What security practices are in place for threat identification? Mitigation?



Observability


  1. Is there an observability role defined in the network?
  2. What types of organizations should have an observability role?
  3. What types of transactions should be observable? Why?



Governance



  1. Is there a consortium that defines governance policies for the DLT network?
  2. Is the DLT part of a regulated solution?
  3. Are there applicable industry governance standards that should apply?
  4. How are policies and events monitored?
  5. How are policies enforced?



Compliance



  1. Are there existing compliance standards in the organizations by role?
  2. How will compliance be monitored, managed on the DLT?
  3. How will compliance be monitored, managed in the rest of the solution?



Resiliency




  1. What does the solution dependency graph show for software?
  2. What does the solution dependency graph show for vendor services?
  3. How does the solution support resiliency standards?
  4. How is recovery defined for the solution ( RTO, RPO )?
  5. Does the DLT solution support 
  6. How is reliability ensured in the production environment?
  7. Where are the SPOFs ( Single Point of Failure ) in the solution, software stack, vendor services?
  8. What is the redundancy, failover test history?
  9. Is the reliability test plan fully implemented?
  10. What gaps exist in the resiliency model now?
  11. What significant risks exist in the resiliency model now?
  12. What is the history of operational impacts and resiliency for software?
  13. What is the history of operational impacts and resiliency for services vendors?
  14. Is the support fix process highly reliable now?
  15. What is the quality experience for support fixes now?



Change Management


  1. How are changes managed for DLT version upgrades?
  2. How are smart contract changes managed?
  3. Are smart contract changes processed through the same governance policies as transactions?



DLT Solution Design Principles Document gdoc

DLT Concepts & Principles Design gdoc



DLT Principle References



DAO Concepts


Forbes article on DAO

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2021/06/01/what-are-daos-and-why-you-should-pay-attention/?sh=7fec21dc7305

Can you imagine a way of organizing with other people around the world, without knowing each other and establishing your own rules, and making your own decisions autonomously all encoded on a Blockchain? Well, DAOs are making this real.

Wikipedia defines DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) as an organization represented by rules encoded as a transparent computer program, controlled by the organization members, and not influenced by a central government. As the rules are embedded into the code, no managers are needed, thus removing any bureaucracy or hierarchy hurdles. 

Some of today's internet users and the next generations are looking forward to starting social organizations, searching for an answer to: “How can we exchange values in a trusted environment? Blockchain enables automated trusted transactions and value exchanges, but even so, internet users around the world want to organize themselves in a “Safe and effective way to work with like-minded folks, around the globe”, according to Ethereum 


DAO-2022-forbes-What Are DAOs And Why You Should Pay Attention.pdf

Comments >> 

There are many different views of a DAO but no real accepted standards. Forbes makes many limiting assumptions on what a DAO is which drastically limits the potential value and applicability to many community use cases. The Forbes model is focused on the limited Bitcoin view of a DAO.


Wikipedia definition of DAO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_autonomous_organization

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), sometimes called a decentralized autonomous corporation (DAC),[a] is an organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members and not influenced by a central government.[1][2] A DAO's financial transaction record and program rules are maintained on a blockchain.[3][4][5] The precise legal status of this type of business organization is unclear


DAO Theory vs Reality - Can your DAO be Trusted?  Proof of Governance is Key


In theory, a perfect DAO is a full democratic organization with automated digital trust

In reality, DAOs aren't perfect and many provide frequent scam opportunities

Sybal and other governance services can provide necessary, effective independent oversight for a DAO


Rug pulls now 1/3 of all crypto scams

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/spot-avoid-being-rug-pulled-100044822.html



VCN - Value Chain Network Concepts

m Token Economy Examples: Tokenomics#VCN-ValueChainNetworksisabusinessnetworkbasedonvalue.

Key Differences

  1. VCN has less restrictive assumptions than DAO
  2. VCN may be anonymous or may know each other
  3. VCN does not assume all parties fill the same role unlike Bitcoin
  4. VCN can have different roles, membership models
  5. VCN has flexible economic models to fit a use case



DLT Standards


Blockchain Standards Overview and Comparison

WEF Blockchain standards overview

https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GSMI_Technical_Standards_2020.pdf

A full list of standards organizations focusing on blockchain in 2020


blockchain-standards-comparison-2022-futureinternet-12-00222.pdf file

blockchain-standards-comparison-2022-futureinternet-12-00222 link


NIST Standards for DLT, Cryptography


NIST-Blockchain Technology Overview-.IR.8202.pdf link

https://www.nist.gov/blockchain

Enhanced Distributed Ledger Technology 
Point of Contact: D. Richard Kuhn 
Summary: The Enhanced Distributed Ledger Technology project examines the traditional blockchain data structure and seeks to create a new data structure (the block matrix) to provide high reliability, and security while also enabling deletion or updating capabilities not currently found in most blockchain systems.

NIST Cybersecurity White Paper - A Taxonomic Approach to Understanding Emerging Blockchain Identity Management Systems 
Points of Contacts: blockchain-idms-paper@nist.gov
Summary: A high-level technical document breaking down the key components, emerging standards, and system architectures that support blockchain-based identity management systems.

NISTIR 8301 – Blockchain Networks: Token Design and Management Overview
Points of Contacts: blockchain-token-paperblockchain-token-paper@nist.govnist.gov
Summary: An overview of token data models and important building blocks for account, transaction, and infrastructure management in an effort to lower the barriers to study, prototype, and integrate token-related standards and protocols

IEEE Blockchain Standards

https://blockchain.ieee.org/standards/ 


Published Standards:

W3C Blockchain Standards


SSI DID

VC



GS1 Blockchain Standards

https://www.gs1.org/standards/blockchain

gs1 org-Blockchain GS1.pdf link

Organizations

Items

Lots



MOBI Blockchain Standards

https://dlt.mobi/standards/

0001 – Business White Papers (WP)

MOBI Business White Papers are high-level business reviews that discuss issues and propose solutions to the world’s most pressing transportation challenges with consideration to ecosystem stakeholders, new strategies, emerging technologies, and global policies.

0002 – Use Cases and Business Requirements (UC)

MOBI Use Cases and Business Requirements documents describe pain points, stakeholder responsibilities, and high-level business requirements potential solutions must meet in order to resolve stakeholder needs. UCs also detail workflows for particular applications and are technology-agnostic.

0003 – Technical Specifications (TS)

MOBI Technical Specifications define recommended minimum interfaces between systems/modules and data specification exchanged in the process leading up to a reference implementation. This process allows independently developed systems to be interoperable.

0004 – Reference Implementation Architectures (RI)

MOBI Reference Implementation Architectures prescribe and recommend a solution architecture stakeholders can refer to when they deploy solutions, ensuring that stakeholder requirements described in TS and UC are met in the process. RIs are vendor-agnostic.

VID - Vehicle Identity

MOBI’s Vehicle Identity I (VID I) provides a “birth certificate” for vehicles. VID I was the starting point enabling other future use cases such as the potential to track events in the car’s life, including change of ownership, repairs and insurance claims, and the ability to log odometer readings. 

VID II leverages VID I in a variety of use cases, including vehicle registration and maintenance traceability. Vehicle registration enables previously disconnected registration systems to connect through a trusted shared ledger. 

VID 1.0 standard has been updated to VID 2.0

https://dlt.mobi/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/MOBI-Vehicle-Identity-Standard-v1.0-Preview.pdf


CMDM - Connected Marketplace Data Management


DIF Blockchain Standards

SSI



EEA - Ethereum Enterprise Alliance

https://entethalliance.org/

https://entethalliance.org/technical-specifications/


ISO Standards


BLOCKCHAIN’S TECHNOLOGY OF TRUST

https://www.iso.org/news/isofocus_142-5.html


https://www.iso.org/committee/6266604/x/catalogue/



ISO 23257:2022(en)

ISO-23257 Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies — Reference architecture

Records of transactions, based on certain agreed upon conditions, form the basis for exchanging assets between parties. Businesses and governments have been operating for centuries using this foundation. While physical ledgers were once used, they have largely been replaced with modern technology. However, in traditional approaches, a ledger must be centrally controlled by one or a small number of parties, and other stakeholders must rely on them as agents to change those ledgers.
An important property of a ledger is verifiability. This means that the parties can verify that the set of transactions in the ledger is complete and accurate. As a result, these parties can identify irregularities in transactions, for example, to verify that digital assets of the participants are correctly accounted within a financial ledger. Currently, it is possible to achieve a verifiable ledger in a centralized way by making certain trust assumptions. However, verifiability can be also achieved by distributing the storage and decentralizing the control of the ledger with minimal trust in any one party.
By maintaining a ledger in a distributed network, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) systems, including blockchain systems, allow a much wider range of parties to have a shared view of the ledger and to make their own changes to that ledger.
A broad spectrum of DLT based business solutions is possible. This document presents a reference architecture for such DLT based solutions. It starts with the definitions and concepts of blockchain and DLT such as the system organization, nature of access, type of consensus and the roles and responsibilities of the participants. Given that the reference architecture must accommodate a wide variety of possible use cases, it touches upon various business domains and their respective use cases at a high level. Historically, ledgers have facilitated the exchange of assets, but DLT solutions can also be used more broadly for reporting, auditing, and coordination. The document finally presents the reader with various layers of a reference architecture for DLT systems and the functional components in the layers.
ISO 23257:2022(en)


STANDARDS BY ISO/TC 307 Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies



GLEIF - Global Legal Entity Identity Foundation

https://www.gleif.org/en

The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) enables clear and unique identification of legal entities engaging in financial transactions. Implementation of the LEI increases the ability of authorities in any jurisdiction to evaluate risk, conduct market surveillance and take corrective steps. Use of an LEI also generates tangible benefits for businesses including reduced counterparty risk and increased operational efficiencies. This website page describes how to access the quality assured LEI data pool to easily and quickly source information on who is who and who owns whom free of charge.


Potential Value Opportunities


DLT Product Owner Role


DLT Architect Role

BLUF - bottom line up front for DLT Architect role

DLT (Distributed Ledger Technologies - Blockchain) can improve trust, reduce frictions and risks in operation and governance of financial ecosystems when used effectively in solutions

As DLT architect, I help 

  • research DLT technologies and identify use cases and solutions that may add value
  • support solution delivery teams ( ION, DSM etc ) on use of DLT 
  • work with ITA members on best practice designs for DLT
  • collaborate with TRI on DLT specific opportunities: ( CBDC Lithium, OpenCBDC, SSI etc )
  • define useful business models for DLT operation and governance
  • share DLT concepts, engineering methods, software evaluations complementing existing DLT training programs
  • coordinate with industry leaders on DLT ( Hyperledger Public Sector Group lead, Experts Panel on European Blockchain Forum, State of Rhode Island, Global Forum etc )

Areas of potential impact

  • ION use of Corda for next generation requirements 
  • DSM DLT design reviews for private securities markets
  • Project Lithium on CBDC payments for settlement and other TRI opportunities
  • DLT skills growth within DTCC
  • Evaluations of DLT technologies for solution use cases
  • Promotion of DTCC as DLT innovator with technology and financial communities
  • Solution engineering for DLT with product and client teams on DLT networks as needed





Potential Challenges


Evolution of Fintech >>. Cefi > Defi > Refi >> DTCC ION, DSM, Lithium >> Swift >> RLN & RSN exercises


Candidate Solutions



Step-by-step guide for Example



sample code block

sample code block
 



Recommended Next Steps