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

Blockchain forecasts for 2022

https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2021/12/30/21-predictions-for-crypto-and-beyond-in-2022/

predictions-2022-coindesk-21 Predictions for Crypto and Beyond in 2022.pdf

1. Expect at least a period of unstable and essentially flat token markets
2. NFT many formerly high-dollar non-fungible tokens are already bleeding, and a lot of those prices were likely manufactured via wash trading in the first place, so they have further to fall
3. Ethereum POS arrives - Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) will finally take a definitive step forward next year as the new PoS Beacon Chain merges with the current PoW chain
4. user interest for real, meaningful applications across a number of blockchains
5. decoupling from Bitcoin continues - “Decoupling” here means that various crypto assets will stop simply tracking bitcoin’s price.
6. bitcoin mining bans next year in countries with weak grids or low energy supplies
7. Goldman Sachs predicts a 9% rise in the S&P 500 index.
8. FED  raise interest rates in 2022
9. bitcoin inflation hedge for billionaires only -  bitcoin didn’t respond to rising inflation the way it should have according to the “inflation hedge” 
10. Meme coins wipe out. 
11. Projects I’m excited about in the next BUIDL phase include Arweave, an innovative distributed storage system; Sign-in With Ethereum, which is pretty much what it sounds like; and whatever Jack Dorsey has planned at Block 
12. ascendance of Avalanche, Terra, Solana and Polkadot this year spells the end of real momentum for many projects that have been around for a while: EOS, Iota, Litecoin, Cardano, Hedera
13. USD inflation peaks
14. DAOs will attract serious regulatory attention - don't be a DAO
15. Stablecoins get regulated in many countries
16. Pandemic ends - Omicron variant will end the pandemic by infecting more or less everyone who isn’t already vaccinated
17. Metaverse moves slower than expected with Facebook bringing up the rear ( compare to useful apps in Healthcare )

Blockchain key to many new opportunities

New mainnet connects blockchain to the physical world to promote mass adoption

https://cointelegraph.com/news/new-mainnet-connects-blockchain-to-the-physical-world-to-promote-mass-adoption

Ekta is operating with the mission to bridge blockchain technology to the physical world by building a future where cryptocurrency, DeFi and NFTs prove their use to the world, similar to how smartphones and the internet have become commonplace.

MetaTrees is the Ekta team’s first project aimed at establishing a metaverse (also known as the EktaVerse). The Ektaverse is designed to utilize NFT DeFi gaming, resulting in reforestation and carbon credit in the real world. With the launch of this project, Ekta hopes to prove that the metaverse concept can provide tangible benefits in the real world. Set to drop its NFTs in early Q2, it’ll be the first step into the metaverse for Ekta.

Biggest Regenerative NFT Project Explained | MetaTrees NFT by MetaFarms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSC7RbEtkHk

- What is MetaTrees NFT - NFT art - NFT utility - MetaTrees NFT Team and Leaders - Roadmap

https://metatreesnft.com/

25,000 NFTs. 1-1 Real Tree Planted. 1 Positive Farm Project

Webinar 3/25 5 pm EST

SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2022

MetaFarmers plant trees, but they also sequester carbon, by removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil. This allows MetaFarmers to offset their carbon emissions through MetaTreesNFT. Holders of MetaTrees NFT will receive many other benefits from the NFT’s utility.

our community, will regenerate a real farm (Called MetaFarm) located in NSW, Australia by using regenerative agriculture principles.

A massive part of this project is planting 25 000 trees on the farm, this will start the regeneration process. To make this project open to everyone, we have lowered each MetaTree NFT to costs 0.035Eth, this will allow each MetaTrees NFT to support the planting and growth of one real tree on the farm and support the overall project. 

Buyers of the MetaTree NFT will enjoy many other benefits, such as real life events on and off the farm, some of the benefits can be seen in the utility section below.

Potential Challenges

Legal acceptance for blockchain data growing

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.

Is Blockchain Here to Stay? - Isaac Kunkel - Chainyard

https://medium.com/@isaac.kunkel/game-changer-is-blockchain-here-to-stay-d34e09555f79

Blockchain is the technology that will enable existing, and new, companies to disrupt existing business models by decentralizing the ecosystems, increasing trust of data and transactions, and monetizing the interactions in new ways.

Blockchain’s unique ability for companies to work together by sharing a repository of information, speeding up and automating transactions, avoiding disputes and increasing the trust of data and transactions in the network will foster innovation. This innovation will not be static or short-lived and will continue to iterate on itself. At the same time, the underlying blockchain platform will become an integral part of enterprise architectures, just as relational and non-relational databases are a common to enterprise architecture stacks today.

Jim Mason - Spolier Alert - yes

Good article on the long-term forecast for blockchain and the key impacts blockchain can deliver.

Is Blockchain here to stay? Spoiler Alert. Yes.

Blockchain isn't going away. The technology will continue to evolve at a fast pace.

The scenarios on how blockchain can add value to a business and an ecosystem will continue to expand.

A good example is Hyperledger Fabric, the leading open-source Enterprise Blockchain platform.

It continues to evolve technically. Fabric also adds value in a growing set of use cases.

Some other blockchain platforms are evolving technically and delivering an expanding set of solutions as well.

Winning with blockchain in your business is understanding how to integrate the technology and how your business ecosystem can be improved.

Candidate Solutions

Step-by-step guide for Example

sample code block

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