Blockchain references

Key Points

1. Hyperledger presentations available ( access here )

References

Key Concepts

Pre-requisites for Blockchain Success 

Digital Identities
Digital Identity is the fundamental building block and a key area for governments to focus on. Identity management for people and other entities is important. It includes roles for regulators and supervisor organizations, identities, roles, digital certificates, membership management, authentication, authorization and more.

Blockchain As A Service ( BAAS )
Blockchain as a service will be the way 90% of all DLT solutions are deployed. The challenge will be avoiding SPOFs with the platform providers and enabling simple cross-platform blockchain deployments

Central Bank Digital Currencies 
A key enabler of low-cost, high-volume trusted transactions is digital versions of national currencies on the blockchain, for example through blockchain-based central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Making it possible for legal tender to become an integral part of blockchain transactions will make it easier to reap the benefits of new technologies like smart contracts.

Governance as a Supervisory Role
Blockchains can support multiple roles. To effectively govern complex markets accurately at low cost requires well defined governance contracts for supervisory roles in these markets.

Automated Change Management 
Blockchains are flexible systems subject to change in policies, rules, contracts, data formats, networks etc.  As such, automated change management for the blockchain itself should be managed on the blockchain - a self managed system.

Private Personal Identity Information
There are new models and methods that can improve the privacy of Personal Identity Information ( PII ) over traditional systems. Zero Knowledge Proofs are be used in Identity systems to verify an identity claim from a user or entity by an identity authority. This eliminates the need to share personal identity information ( PII ) that is often stolen from  government and commercial systems.

Data Privacy
Data privacy needs and regulations are increasing. In the more connected world of blockchain, there are new models and methods that can protect data privacy. Most of the time, when company A buys a product from company B, one or both parties want the identities of the parties and the price paid in the transaction private. At the same time, it may be important in many markets ( eg the stock market etc ) to capture all transactions and prices in the market while protecting the privacy of the parties involved. Blockchains like Hyperledger Fabric support implicit private data for transactions as well as anonymized data for use in market analytics without revealing the identities of the parties in individual transactions.

Blockchain Potential Impacts 

Government Services 

Blockchain, for instance, is very good at creating trust in information and processes in situations where there are large, heterogeneous sets of stakeholders or users. Blockchain is also good at creating trusted audit trails of information and, depending on how a system is designed, makes it relatively easy to keep data both private and shareable. Because blockchains are decentralised, distributed systems with strong automation potential, they can be used to design efficient, inexpensive platforms, potentially leading to significant cost savings in data processing while increasing the robustness of the platforms.

These properties could be advantageous in a wide range of use cases. Blockchains can be deployed to secure and share important data and records, for example the records of our identity, which could be put on chain and used to provide a secure, unique, verifiable identity to all the actors in the digital economy. Blockchains can be used for asset registries, for instance with regard to land title, or to improve the securing and sharing of important data like patient health records or educational certifications. With verified data on a blockchain, it could be possible to design trustworthy e-voting systems, too.

the monitoring and regulating of markets of various kinds, supporting governments in their task of protecting consumers and keeping markets safe and viable. Shared ledgers can help governments reduce friction in gathering and aggregating data from participants in the markets they oversee, and may even open a path to real-time data collection and market supervision. Shared ledgers could be used to combat tax fraud and streamline how taxes are calculated and collected, as well as how governments manage their own expenditures, whether in procurement, entitlements or administration. Blockchains can also help increase efficiency and reduce costs in government operations.

Data Quality 

In an age of automation, AI and machine learning, the accuracy of information governing all of our activity personally and in society will depend more than ever on data quality. Even large organizations have failed to drive data quality where it's needed. The largest companies still have reactive models for managing data quality. New, proactive models for managing data quality are needed.  Fortunately automation and AI can help improve data quality if applied properly

Setup and managed correctly, blockchains provide higher data quality than traditional systems reducing errors from independent data updates. In blockchains, all data can be created through smart contracts that enforce the proper governance rules on every transaction at the source. With consensus, replicated transactions across the network can be trusted to be accurate. This is an improvement over traditional ETL methods that have lower data quality.

Compliance 

With complex markets and economies, ensuring compliance with both internal and external regulations is critical.  With the higher trust, data quality and well-defined regulatory roles in a DLT, compliance accuracy, timeliness and cost all improve.

Tokenization of Assets or Services ( optional )

This is optional. It depends on the purpose of the blockchain. If the blockchain has transactions between buyers and sellers, tokenized asset sales may be a useful option ( or not ) to fiat currencies. Most tokenized assets work if the token is a stable value token that can be exchanged directly for fiat at rates below typical credit or payment charge rates. Tokenized asset sales can be completed faster for settlement than traditional payment systems.
Services ( or behavior ) on a network can be tokenized. If the tokens can be exchanged for value, this creates incentives to promote specific market behaviors. A vendor could sell anonymized sales data to others. A dealer could pay for better onlne listings with tokens.  A dealer that delivers faster with no problems could receive a token award.

Potential Value Opportunities

1. Supply chains provenance, traceability, efficiency, automated services ( aircraft MRO etc )
2. Governance and compliance 
3. Trading systems 
4. Voting systems 
5. Insurance changes with trusted partners, assets 
6. Manufacturing traceability, efficiency 
7. Healthcare - consent, service records, automated billing ( accurately for a change ), drug supply chain, drug trials for APD ( anonymized personal data )
8. Identity management - PII - government and other forms of identity for entities and individuals 
9. Energy systems - accurate, verifiable consumption, demand, service levels
10. Education - accurate records on performance, degrees etc
11. Immigration - accurate records on immigration processing, results

Potential Challenges

Legal acceptance for blockchain data growning

new laws indicate progress on legal acceptance of blockchain

Arizona passed a law recognizing blockchain signatures and smart contracts as legal. The state has also standardized the record keeping for real estate titles and firearm tracking on a blockchain. Additionally, Vermont has passed a law making blockchain data admissible in court, and West Virginia conducted mobile voting using blockchain technology in the most recent November election. Outside of the United States, blockchain is being used by the Estonian eHealth Foundation to secure the health records of 1 million Estonian citizens.

Candidate Solutions

Step-by-step guide for Example

sample code block

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