Founded in 2017, Kaleido started with the mission of making blockchain and digital assets simple for organizations to adopt. If enterprises didnโt have to reinvent basic solutions, they could shift their development costs to the business logic for their use cases. That could mean millions more dollars focused on what matters most to companies.
But designing a solution to reduce both the time and cost required to get a blockchain app into production was only half the battle. The rest of the challenge: generating enough adoption to really push enterprise blockchain adoption forward.
Kaleidoโs Blockchain Business Cloud was designed to reduce both the time and cost required to get a blockchain app into production. That was great for Kaleidoโs clients. But other organizations were still struggling. So Kaleido made the decision to open source the solution, and Hyperledger Foundation was the clear choice as the home for the code base. It was accepted as a Hyperledger Lab called FireFly in June, 2021.
After entering the Lab, the community of contributors and supporters grew. And in September 2021, Hyperledger FireFly became an official Hyperledger Project. The Kaleido team and the rest of the community then set to work getting it ready for production use. By April 2022, Hyperledger FireFly 1.0 was ready for release with version 1.1 coming shortly after in September 2022.
With this development work, Hyperledger FireFly is now the first open source Supernode. The community has built out a full tech stack for enterprises to build, deploy, and scale Web3 applications up to 50-100x faster and with savings of 90% or more on development costs.
While serving as maintainers helping to drive the development of Hyperledger FireFly, the Kaleido team was also engaging with the community as a Hyperledger Foundation member. Through its active involvement, Kaleido has been able to reach thousands of enterprise blockchain builders, increase awareness in this key community, and land new opportunities and customers for its business.
The Hyperledger Foundation team worked with Kaleido on a case study that tells the story of Hyperledger FireFly, including the decision to contribute the code base, the journey from lab to project and the market needs it is addressing. The case study also details the work Kaleido has done to build a contributor community for Hyperledger FireFly and the ways it has leveraged member benefits to increase adoption and visibility for the both project and itself as a company.
We have long said there will not be one blockchain to rule them all. It will take a mix of blockchains and blockchain technologies to maximize the value of distributed ledgers, smart contracts, digital assets and self-sovereign identity between businesses, across industries and around the world.
Hybrid networks, which combine the capabilities of private and public blockchains, can deliver a number of advantages, including high levels of scalability and performance, and provide the right balance of security, privacy and transparency. The private blockchain offers secure, permissioned data storageโan essential feature thatโs particularly crucial for highly regulated industries. Meanwhile, the public blockchain brings scale and immutability, enabling a more open and transparent ledger.
As part of our spotlight on #HyperledgerHybrid, weโve compiled a sampling of production deployments and solutions leveraging Hyperledger technologies to deliver value across a mix of permissioned and public chains.
Blockchain for Energy
Energy industry consortium, Blockchain for Energy has launched a new decentralized and interoperable platform powered by Kaleido and leveraging Hyperledger FireFly. The B4E Network & Platform allows energy companies to access proven solutions and build applications that leverage Web3 constructs including smart contracts, digital assets, NFTs, and tokenization across both public and private chains. The first production-grade solution released on the new platform is from the B4E Commodity Transport Program, a collaborative effort led by Pioneer Natural Resources, that utilizes IIOT and blockchain technology to track chemical deliveries.
IPwe Digital Assets
In September 2022, Casper Labs and IPwe developed and launched a dynamic NFT blockchain solution, IPwe Digital Assets. The solution uses the permissioned distributed ledger technologies of open source Hyperledger Fabric and the public Casper Blockchain to securely store verified public and private information about each patent. The integration capitalizes on the data security and trust inherent on a Hyperledger Fabric network and enables Casper to securely bring assets locked on the private ledger to the public chain.
IPwe is now deploying 25 million patent NFTs leveraging the hybrid Casper Blockchain and Hyperledger Fabric network. On top of that, IPweโs solution includes Smart Intangible Asset Management (SIAM), a comprehensive SaaS tool for IP valuation and management that allows enterprises to fully utilize these patent NFTs to transact, manage, and value their IP. This revolutionary implementation of blockchain technology will enable IPwe to bring liquidity to the IP space, where currently approximately 95% of IP assets are not transacted or commercialized
Palm Network
The Palm network is an Ethereum sidechain dedicated to selling, purchasing, and trading NFTs that are associated with real-world and digital assets. It is built with Hyperledger Besu and uses IBFT 2.0 proof of authority (PoA) consensus, with network validators being run by key stakeholders. IBFT 2.0 offers fast transaction speed and free minting.
An automated bridge relay service connects payment tokens, like DAI, and NFTs on Ethereum and the Palm network, with bridging contracts deployed on both networks to manage the connection. Fees collected from this bridge are partially used to purchase carbon offsets.
Starling Lab
Starling Lab is a joint effort developed by the USC Shoah Foundation and Stanford Universityโs Department of Electrical Engineering. The initiativeโs goal is to develop a set of tools and principles to be used across non-profit organizations, news outlets, and industry experts to solve challenges when it comes to the uncertainty of the media we see today and our enduring effort to preserve the truth.
Starling provides an open-source, end-to-end framework for the media generation and verification process. The framework consists of three modules: capturing the image, storing the information, and verifying its authenticity. It leverages multiple blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Each metadata record, such as the caption or photographer byline added by an editor to a photoโs record, is relayed to a Hyperledger Fabric peer for notarization on a private permissioned ledger.Each transaction posted to Hyperledger is recorded on Hedera Consensus Service (HCS) using a hashgraph that rapidly orders and stamps each entry.
Toko
Global law firm DLA Piper developed its TOKO tokenization platform to issue non-fungible tokens across asset classes including real estate, fine art, debt and even intellectual property. Toko is a digital asset creation engine to solve inefficiencies in todayโs capital markets by using DLTs to distribute, trade and settle transactions rapidly, bypassing the need for trusted third party intermediaries that are both expensive and slow. It is built using the combination of a permissioned Hyperledger Fabric network and the Hedera Consensus Service.
Join the conversation about the use of Hyperledger technologies delivering value across permissioned and public networks with #HyperledgerHybrid.
Since the launch of Hyperledger FireFly 1.1 in October, the community has been hard at work on a number of improvements, and today we’re pleased to announce that version 1.2 is now available. In version 1.2, weโve introduced a number of changes focused on the user, making it easier and faster than ever to make and run your web3 applications at scale.
Token API Enhancements
Weโve added support for a much wider variety of ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 contracts.
OpenZepplin Wizard Support: Hyperledger FireFly’s token APIs now work for variations of ERC-20, ERC721, and ERC-1155 contracts generated by the OpenZepplin Contract Wizard. The older sample token contracts ERC20NoData and ERC721NoData contracts have been deprecated.
Experience Enhancements
Additional controls and feedback make the Hyperledger FireFly experience even more powerful.
Error Feedback: Custom smart contract error types are now returned on the API.
Data Management: Data objects and blob rows may be removed from the FireFly database and Data Exchange microservice. This can be very useful if your organization has data retention requirements for sensitive, private data and needs to purge data after a certain period of time.
Dynamic Reload of Core Config File: You can now edit the configuration file and have FireFly automatically reload it, without having to restart the whole service.
Distributed Request Tracking: The X-FireFly-Request-ID HTTP header is now passed through to FireFly dependency microservices to allow for distributed request tracking through various systems.
Custom HTTP Header Passthrough: Custom HTTP headers can be passed through to FireFly dependency microservices.
Blockchain Connector
Evmconnect is now the default blockchain connector for Ethereum-based FireFly stacks. Differences compared with Ethconnect include:
Policy Management Engine: Engine for gas cost estimation and automatic transaction resubmission
Signing and Nonce Management: Compatibility with public blockchains
The Next-gen Platform
Hyperledger FireFly 1.2 is another step toward bringing the enterprise closer to realizing the full potential of web3โboth with permissioned chains and connections to public ecosystems. Itโs designed to make application development easier and faster to deploy.
If thatโs something youโre interested in, we invite you to come be part of our community. You can learn more in the Hyperledger FireFly docs and download the CLI on the Hyperledger FireFly Github. If you have any questions, find us in the FireFly channel on the Hyperledger Discord.
Before Hyperledger FireFly, blockchain developers spent a lot of time building the plumbing of their application. They built complex middleware components from scratch. Hyperledger FireFly was a sea change. The first open source Supernode, Hyperledger FireFly offers developers a complete stack to build and scale secure web3 applications.
Hyperledger FireFly accelerates development with a rich stack of native web3, B2B, and integration services. It simplifies the deployment and management of many apps via a single console, and offers a new tool to connect to the multi-chain and multi-protocol web3 world.
This is more important than ever as public and private chain use cases intermingle more and more in novel enterprise applications. Thatโs what makes the new release of Hyperledger FireFly exciting. Developments to the stack make it radically simple for developers to launch production-ready apps on both public and private chains and manage multiple applications from a single console with multi-tenant support, plugin flexibility, and pluggable security.
Introducing Web3 Gateway Mode
Hyperledger FireFly can now operate in two modes. The first is familiar to current users of the stack. Consortium Mode is used to build consortiums or multi-party business networks where data needs to be agreed to and shared among the group. Use cases for Consortium Mode have included healthcare and insurance consortiums, supply chain participants, financial networks, and other examples where companies come together to streamline how they do business.
This release introduces the new Web3Gateway Mode. Gateway Mode is used when the main goal of the Supernode is to connect to a public blockchain. Where previously developers could use a public tether to access popular public chains, this new mode acts as a doorway into the full world of web3 with support for popular public chains including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Moonbeam, Fantom and more.
The worlds of public and private blockchain are merging. Enterprises are eager to tap into the reach, security, and decentralization of public chains. At the same time, public chain players are looking to optimize throughput, scalability, and gas fees in ways that have long been familiar to enterprise networks. This release of Hyperledger FireFly offers a stack to build for both worlds.
Public Blockchain Support
Along with the ability to connect across public chains, Hyperledger FireFly 1.1 has new tools and support to simplify public use cases for the enterprise.
FireFly Transaction Manager, an all new EVM Connector, handles the complex concerns of public chains, including gas estimation, resubmission policies, and more.
FireFly Signer can be used for transaction signing in networks where it is necessary to separate private keys from the blockchain node.
Enhanced Gateway Support makes it easy to keep private data private, while interacting with public chains.
Hyperleger FireFly 1.1 allows developers to access both public and private chains simultaneously, while building in guardrails specific to the enterprise space, ensuring new applications meet both user and compliance requirements.
Multi-tenant Support
Hyperledger FireFly 1.1 adds namespace isolation for segregating data and operations. Inside the Supernode, each namespace is an isolated environment within a FireFly runtime. This allows independent configuration of plugin and infrastructure components, API security, identity broadcasting, on-chain data indexing, and management of how data should be shared.
Namespaces work in both modes. Consortium Namespaces can be used when multiple parties need to share on- and off-chain data and agree upon the ordering and authenticity of that data. While Web3 Gateway Namespaces are available when interacting directly with a blockchain, without assuming that the interaction needs to conform to FireFly’s multi-party system model.
A single FireFly node can run multiple namespaces in either mode at the same time. This lets developers build flows that coordinate between public chains and private consortiums. The diagram below illustrates the visibility and control available to an organization as they run multiple applications from a single console, each segregated to meet security requirements.
Multiple Instances of Plugins
With the new release, a single FireFly node can now use several instances of each type of plugin that is available. As we illustrated above, weโre connecting to multiple blockchains simultaneously, often for different use cases or goals. The ability to run different plugins in each namespace means a developer has greater agility to coordinate flows for each chain or consortium.
Pluggable API Security
The flexibility to connect to multiple applications and multiple chains is only valuable in the enterprise space if it can be matched with the appropriate security, both for the integrity of the network and for compliance standards.
With Hyperledger FireFly 1.1, API Security can be enabled at several levels. This includes on any service or on a specific namespace.
With two different modes of operation, tenant isolation, flexibility of plugins, and tailored security at any level, the ability of a developer to deploy and manage applications with the right functionality and permissioned access is greatly increased.
The Next-gen Platform
Hyperledger FireFly v1.0 was a welcomed addition to the blockchain developerโs toolkit. It brought to blockchain the convenience of a rich middleware stack common in the Web 2.0 space.
With the new release, Hyperledger FireFly is positioning enterprises to harness the benefits of both public and private blockchain technologies. It gives developers the ability to quickly launch multiple applications, tailor each to the desired business logic and security requirementsโall while providing a gateway into the wider world of web3.
Hyperledger FireFly 1.1 is another step toward bringing the Enterprise closer to realizing the full potential of web3โboth with permissioned chains and connections to public ecosystems. If thatโs something youโre interested in, we invite you to come be part of our community. You can learn more in the FireFly docs and download the CLI on the FireFly Github. If you have any questions, find us in the FireFly channel on the Hyperledger Discord.
Itโs been a busy 10 months for Hyperledger FireFly. From its inception as a Hyperledger Lab contributed by Kaleido in June of 2021, FireFly moved quickly to be a full Hyperledger project just four months later. And today the community is excited to announce that version 1.0 of Hyperledger FireFly is now generally available.
Hyperledger FireFly 1.0 combines a number of technical and market milestones. At its core, it offers a composable Web3 stack to help speed up decentralized application (dApp) development by a factor of 10x-100x, making it the first open-source SuperNode for enterprises to build and scale secure Web3 applications.
It is already in production deployments with a number of leading blockchain consortia today, including RiskStream Collaborative in the insurance industry, Synaptic Health Alliance in healthcare, and TradeGo in commodity trade finance.
A Composable Web3 Stack To Support Decentralized Apps
Over the last decade of enterprise blockchain projects, architects and developers have realized that they need much more than a blockchain node for their projects to be successful. Early custom-built blockchain engagements often were multi-million dollar, multi-year projects that struggled to get into production.
As the $3T market for Web3 has materialized around areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the metaverse, companies are looking to embrace these disruptive technologies and the potential for new business opportunities. Writing decentralized applications, however, requires a large set of composable Web3 and traditional IT technologies that interact with each other as enterprise building blocks that anyone can use.
The Hyperledger FireFly SuperNode provides this new type of decentralized orchestration layer between companiesโ existing systems and Web3. It enables the shift of value in open network systems and reduces the reliance on proprietary technology or custom-built code. It solves for the layers of complexity that sit between the low level blockchain and high level business processes and user interfaces, letting developers focus on building business logic instead of infrastructure.
By enabling companies to avoid โreinventing the wheelโ just to connect to Web3, Hyperledger FireFly increases developer efficiency and fills a void of previously missing functionality to help companies create secure and auditable connections to Web3โs open ecosystems. In doing so, companies using FireFly will gain a first-mover advantage over their peers that canโt successfully make the leap to Web3.
The Best of Public and Private Blockchain Technologies
Hyperledger FireFlyโs open-source approach brings the best of both public and private blockchain technologies onto a single platform. Its multi-chain support also provides companies a crucial step towards interoperability. Companies can quickly bootstrap projects on FireFly by tapping into Web3 innovations such as smart contracts and NFTs without having to build everything from scratch, while also satisfying enterprise requirements for simple APIs, reliable delivery, and robust connections. FireFly also helps to โfuture-proofโ these applications by providing a blockchain-neutral platform to build on.
Hyperledger FireFly has built-in integrations and support for popular communities such as Ethereum (Quorum, Hyperledger Besu, Geth, public mainnet), Hyperledger Fabric and Corda, and for standard digital assets such as ERC20, ERC721 and ERC 1155. The FireFly code base comprises more than 200,000 lines of enterprise-ready code, and is extensible and pluggable for token bridges, L2s such as Polygon, and standards-led approaches such as the Baseline protocol.
Hereโs a full overview of components available in the 1.0 release:
Hyperledger FireFly has come a long way in a short time. We are excited about how quickly weโve been able to grow the project and the community and how quickly enterprises and consortia are adopting the technology. We would like to invite you to come be part of our community. Hereโs our Github and our Discord. We also hosted a deep dive into FireFly SuperNodes and the 1.0 release on April 13 watch below.
For decades, the healthcare industry has faced the challenge of juggling a huge (and growing) amount of patient, payer, provider and pharmaceutical data with managing accuracy, access, security and privacy. There has been continuous innovation and investment aimed at breaking down information silos and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of data reporting and sharing. Hyperledger technologies power an increasing number of the solutions that are taking on these challenges head on and creating new models for the industry.
Read on for a sampling of these Hyperledger-powered solutions and the ways they are helping to streamline a range of critical healthcare processes. And join the conversation using #HyperledgerHealth on social channels.
Avaneer Network
Founded by a consortium that includes Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Cleveland Clinic, HCSC, IBM, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., and Sentara Healthcare, Avaneer Health has built a private, secure, and trusted technical healthcare network where stakeholders can collaborate to streamline and improve the healthcare experience while increasing administrative efficiency. The Avaneer Network leverages Hyperledger Fabric-based blockchain technologies to ensure privacy, security and content-based use of data. Participants connecting to the Avaneer Network have access to a range of solutions for securely transacting and administering healthcare and deploy innovative solutions that streamline processes. The first network participants, all founding members of the consortium, represent 80 million covered lives and 14 million annual patient visits.
IBM Digital Health Pass
IBM Digital Health Pass, built on Hyperledger Fabric, offers a multi-credential verifier that organizations can use to manage and execute their verification policies for COVID-19 and vaccination status in a way that balances the privacy of the individual with the requirements set by the organization and local health authorities. With IBM Digital Health Pass, organizations can verify multiple types of COVID-19 health credentials, such as Good Health Pass, IBM Digital Health Pass, Smart Health Card and EU Digital COVID Certificate. Privacy is central to the solution, where the verifier application minimizes the personal data that is ever displayed to the user through the execution of business rules and it never lets any personal data leave, or be stored in, the verifier app.
KrypC’s pharmaceutical supply chain solution uses Hyperledger Fabric to connect pharmaceutical manufacturers and carriers to collaborate on the safe delivery of drugs. The solution focuses on end-to-end traceability to provide an audit trail for the efficacy of drugs by capturing and verifying information such as the manufacturing date, location in transit, and more. With multiple handoffs across handling agents across continents, there is a crucial need for trusted, end-to-end visibility of pharmaceutical shipments, conditions, and documents. With this solution, Kypc leverages blockchain’s inherent ability to trace drug provenance and create an immutable record of the lifecycle of a drug and how it was handled to address the challenges the pharmaceutical industry faces, both in sourcing and distributing drugs.
Synaptic Health Alliance Decentralized Provider Data Directory
The Synaptic Health Alliance is a coalition of healthcare leaders working to solve their industryโs toughest problems through blockchain technology. Their objective is to create a blockchain-powered platform that enables a culture of innovation, removes friction and solves the shared challenges impacting constituents across health care today.
For their first application, they tackled the challenge of providing healthcare organizations with accurate provider demographic data. Today, healthcare organizations typically collect provider demographic data in separate IT systems maintained by each organization independently. This promotes vast inefficiencies and duplication of efforts (costing roughly $2.1 billion across the industry), while also potentially reducing data quality.
To solve this, Synaptic created a blockchain-based Decentralized Provider Data Directory leveraging Kaleido and the capabilities of Hyperledger FireFly. Through the power of blockchain, participants are now able to crowdsource provider demographics. Token economics incentivize the creation of accurate data, which can then be used by other providers to update their own records, reducing duplication of effort, streamlining administration, and saving money.
Ongoing activity in the space is driven by the very active Hyperledger Healthcare Special Interest Group (SIG), which unites healthcare professionals and technologists from around the world in advancing the state of the healthcare industry through the implementation of technology solutions using blockchain technologies in general, and the umbrella of Hyperledger frameworks and toolsets in specific. It includes subgroups focused on patients, payers and healthcare interoperability.
Blockchain interoperability is one of the crucial features of blockchain technology, operating in three main vectors: enabling scalability, diminishing risks and eliminating silosยน. This blog post focuses on interoperability projects connecting data and value silos.
Standardization bodies are pushing forward drafts to normalize operations across the different interoperability layers. Those working on standards includeOpen Digital Asset Protocol (ODAP) from IETFยฒ, the interoperability working group in Digital Currency Global Initiative (DCGI) at ITUยณ, the subgroup 7 (ISO/TC/SG7) from ISO TechnicalCommittee 307โด, the Cross-Chain Interoperability working group at the Ethereum Enterprise Allianceโต, and many othersโถ. Interoperability solutions can follow guidelines from standardization bodies for seamless integration across their targets and other interoperability solutions.
Several blockchain interoperability projects focusing on solutions for interoperability among public blockchains flourished in the last yearsโถ. However, enterprise-grade interoperability solutions have only recently emerged, and the necessary standardization effort is still in its infancy. Although many different categorizations existโถ, we can broadly classify interoperability solutions into two categories with different philosophies and approaches. In the first, a common โsettlementโ chain (or hub) is created as a permanent infrastructure to which other chains (e.g., โsidechainsโ) can connect; the common chain serves as an interoperation medium, offering decentralized trust guarantees to the sidechains for the settlement of cross-chain transactions. Cosmos7 and Polkadot8 exemplify this approach, which is particularly suited to public blockchains and distributed ledgers.
In the second category of interoperability solutions, a blockchain network, be it public or private, is augmented with modules and capabilities that allow it to interoperate directly with another network without depending on third-party infrastructure. This second category, into which Hyperledger Cactus9 and the Hyperledger Lab Weaver10 fall, is useful in enterprise scenarios where privacy as well as performance are core concerns. Both these approaches have their pros and cons, which are scenario dependent.
The Hyperledger community has been involved in notable efforts to advance open source solutions that respond to modern interoperation needs, which can be wide-ranging, and provides a collection of solutions from which blockchain users and consortia can select as per their requirements. This post explores how four technologies (two projects and two labs) under the Hyperledger umbrella approach the interoperability problem (public blockchains – consortium blockchains – centralized systems), comparing them across multiple criteria.
Hyperledger Cactus
Hyperledger Cactus is a pluggable enterprise-grade framework to transact on multiple distributed ledgers without introducing yet another competing blockchain. It’s an SDK of SDKs.
Hyperledger Cactus aims to provide Decentralized, Adaptable and Secure Integration to and between Blockchain Networks. It aims to cover as many protocols as possible through an extensible plugin architecture where new protocols or functionality can be added by creating new plugins.
Hyperledger FireFly
Hyperledger FireFly provides an API orchestration layer over multiple blockchain ledgers, fostering interoperability in the application tier. Allowing common blockchain programming constructs like tokens, off-chain/on-chain data orchestration, and identity verification to be implemented in pluggable microservice code modules against multiple blockchains. Patterns already implemented that span multiple chains in a single business transaction, include using a Hyperledger Fabric DLT for private business agreement and document verification, orchestrated with tokenized value transfer on a separate Ethereum blockchain. FireFly also provides an API layer into which blockchain interoperability platforms can plug into in the future, for a simplified developer experience.
Weaver
Weaver, a Hyperledger Lab, is a framework with a family of protocols to enable interoperation for data sharing and asset movements between independent networks built on heterogeneous DLTs in a manner that preserves the core blockchain tenets of decentralization and security.
Interoperation using Weaver does not rely on trusted mediators. Rules and requirements are framed using the networks’ internal governance mechanisms. Interoperation relies minimally on shared infrastructure, which may provide identity services but does not play a part in core protocols through which data and assets are shared. Interoperation occurs through protocols that derive their trust from the counterparty networks’ native consensus mechanisms.
Currently, a protocol for data sharing across ledgers with proof of authenticity and provenance is supported (for Fabric and Corda). We are currently adding a new protocol that enables asset exchanges using the HTLC pattern.
YUI
YUI is a Hyperledger Lab that achieves interoperability between multiple heterogeneous ledgers. The lab provides modules and middleware for cross-chain communication as well as modules and tools for cross-chain application development.
For cross-chain communication, YUI is based on Inter Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol by Cosmos project, with extensions to support various Hyperledger projects. IBC provides the basis for ledgersโ interaction of arbitrary data transfer and computation without the assumption of the trusted third party.
Currently YUI supports cross-authentication between enterprise ledgers (Fabric, Besu and Corda). Each actor of ledgers has to interact with only a respective ledger of its interest to complete a cross-chain operation such as an atomic swap of tokens.
Feature Matrix of Projects
Legend
โ : Supported โ: Out of Scope or not in the current roadmap ๐: Design/PoC but no official implementation ๐๏ธ: Not *yet* supported
Feature Name
YUI
Hyperledger Cactus
Weaver
Hyperledger FireFly
Remote API access
๐๏ธ
โ
โ
โ
Standard Data Model
โ (a)
๐๏ธ
โ
โ
Client Language bindings – NodeJS
โ(b)
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (d)
Client Language bindings – JVM
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (d)
Client Language bindings – Rust
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (d)
Client Language bindings – .NET
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (d)
Client Contract Language bindings – Go
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (e)
Contract Language bindings – NodeJS
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (e)
Contract Language bindings – JVM
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (e)
Contract Language bindings – Rust
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (e)
Contract Language bindings – .NET
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ (e)
Trusted Relays
โ
โ
โ
โ
Trustless Relayer
โ
โ
โ
๐๏ธ
Generic Data Exports
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
โ
Ledger Data Backups
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ
Blockchain of Blockchains – To Store Data (e.g. Transactions)
โ
โ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
Blockchain of Blockchains – To Store Network Information
๐๏ธ
โ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
Cross-authentication – light client
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
๐๏ธ
Cross-authentication – Federated via other identity providers
โ
๐๏ธ
๐
๐
Arbitrary data transfer and computation
โ
โ
โ
โ
Exactly-once operation
โ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
โ
Handling misbehaviour
โ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
Does not incorporate interaction between new actor(s)
โ
๐๏ธ
โ
โ
Generate state proofs for external consumption
โ
โ
โ
โ
Verify state proofs independently, without becoming a network insider
โ
โ
โ
โ
Move assets from one ledger to another
โ (c)
โ
โ
โ
Copy assets across ledgers while retaining provenance knowledge
โ (c)
๐๏ธ
โ
โ
Atomically exchange assets in different ledgers
โ (c)
๐๏ธ
โ
๐๏ธ
Accountability (auditability) for data, assets, transactions that involved interoperation
Ability to support cross-network smart contracts (ledger–>ledger invocations)
โ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
โ
End-to-end confidentiality
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
๐
โ
Privacy-preserving queries
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
Support for network discovery and connection bootstrapping
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
โ
Support for routing data and assets via intermediate networks
๐
๐๏ธ
๐๏ธ
โ
Future Work for 2022 Q1
Hyperledger Cactus
Support for the Open Digital Asset Protocol (ODAP)
Improved documentation and more examples (similar to fabric-samples)
Increased number of maintainers
Public test deployment of a Cactus network
Cactus benchmarks that are reproducible by anyone the same way the functional test cases are as long as they have access to a cloud provider account or a k8s cluster
Hyperledger FireFly
Multi-ledger support
Pluggable DID provider support
Pluggable API Security (e.g. OAuth 2.0)
Active-active clustering
NoSQL database support
Weaver
Implementation of cross-network decentralized identity and credential exchanges as trust basis for interoperation (currently in design spec)
Relay driver and support data/state view and asset transfers in Hyperledger Besu (Hyperledger Fabric and Corda already supported)
Relay module: more robustness (fault tolerance), add message queueing features, distribution and load balancing, make compatible with ODAP
Cross-network transaction invocation and event publish/subscribe
End-to-end confidentiality support for state and asset sharing
Augmented data/state sharing protocol to use verifiable external observation features through which the freshness of state can be verified
Improved documentation, tutorials, and testing features
Added performance evaluation capabilities
Inter-compatibility with Hyperledger Cactus through merged and aggregated features
YUI
Other ledger support (possibly other Hyperledger projects)
Enhanced support for Solidity and Ethereum-based ledgers
Enhanced support for connecting the Cosmos ecosystem (such as Tendermint light client for Solidity)
Improved documentation and release samples
Notes:
a) Based on the Inter Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) (i.e., the specifications define packet data structure and the interface of handler of packets) b) Developers only need to interact with the ledger and the framework does not incorporate another layer between them c) Supported by auxiliary modules such as Cross framework d) Hyperledger FireFly API is REST and JSON, so all language โbindingsโ are supported e) Access to contracts via Hyperledger FireFly is also fully REST-ified, so all language bindings are supported
It is #HyperledgerFinTech month, so we are spotlighting solutions where Hyperledger is at work across the finance service market. Read on for details on applications and solutions leveraging a mix of Hyperledger technologies to invent and reinvent a range of services, including eKYC, insurance claims processing, accounts reconciliation, specialty trades and more:
AnaMeen
AnaMeen is a multi-organizational eKYC solution from Ahli Fintech involving Jordan Ahli Bank and Zain Jordan, a mobile telecom provider. This eKYC-as-a-Service, built on the Oracle Blockchain Platform (OBP), aims to remove the friction in the current KYC and onboarding process challenges faced by all banks and financial institutions and to provide greater financial inclusion for all Jordanians. It delivers an enhanced and secure customer experience, with a 10-day account opening process now made instantaneous. Ahli Fintech leverages augmented intelligence and deep learning technologies to verify the identity of the AnaMeen usersโ government-issued identity documents. It collects the four-signature specimens of the users and verifies the client signature on file during a verification video-call with an AnaMeen agent. Customers verify their information and their identity is matched based on their facial biometrics during the video-call. Each customer’s identity is uploaded to a smart contract on OBP to verify and endorse it, storing it in the โMeen Worldโ immutable ledger distributed across the permissioned blockchain network. The solution, which is powered Hyperledger Fabric, enables self-sovereign instant KYC data sharing, with full control in the usersโ hands in full compliance with international data protection and data privacy standards. It is accessible via the โMeen Worldโ eKYC-as-a-Service partner portal, where entities can request access and users can grant access in order to use the services provided by these entities, including instant digital onboarding with subscribed banks.
The Institutes RiskStream Collaborative
The Institutes RiskStream Collaborative is the risk management and insurance industryโs first enterprise-level blockchain consortium that brings together experts and developers to advance insurance-specific use cases via Canopy 3.0, a custom blockchain architecture running on Kaleido that leverages Hyperledger FireFly.
A major source of inefficiency in the life & annuity insurance industry is that life insurers lack a single source of truth for processing death benefits and claims. For all participants, the multiple handoffs between systems and people increase time, cost, and risk.
The Mortality Monitor project, a blockchain-based technology solution led by RiskStream Collaborative, offers a single source of digital decedent information required to process a claim. Instant notification helps carriers proactively identify potential deaths more quickly, reducing the burden on the beneficiary, and shortening the cycle time.
NPLUS
Sydema has implemented NPLUS, a digital and independent platform that makes the exchange of non-performing loans (NPLs) simple, reliable and secure. This transaction platform provides an exchange where banks and investors can trade NPLs based on standardized data templates, which helps to increase transparency and liquidity in this process. It also reduces the wide bid-ask spreads on NPLs, thus contributing to a faster clean-up of bank balance sheets. NPLUS uses an independent blockchain solution developed by Mangrovia on the Hyperledger Fabric-based Oracle Blockchain Platform so that the tracking and storage of loan portfolio and collateral data is referenceable on the marketplace and NPL trading operations are transparent and persistent.
Public Mint
Public Mint is the first fiat-native public blockchain that allows people, companies, applications and banks to interact in frictionless new ways around money. Prior to Public Mint, transactions required banking and exchange off-ramps, meaning there was no such solution offered by payment providers that was blockchain compatible or that enabled instant settlement in fiat. Public Mint, which is built on Hyperledger Besu, is an open blockchain blended with an API platform that allows fiat money to get all the benefits of a cryptocurrency, minus the volatility and complexity. People and businesses from all over the world are free to build all kinds of fiat-based applications and services on top of Public Mint, fueled by money as we know it – without the limitations of traditional banking rails.
SECURUS
Supermoney has introduced SECURUS, a specialist insurance product that addresses key issues in insurance accounts reconciliation between the customers, brokers, insurer, and re-insurers. It is an end-to-end finance and accounts reconciliation solution incorporating underwriting and claims functions. Using tokenization to create and manage accounting of real-world payment flows across multiple siloed systems, the Oracle Blockchain Platform-based network covers MGAs, brokers, and underwriters. It enables ingestion of data from multiple systems, provides Bordereau reports on money flows related to premiums paid or claims with real-time updates, and partner contracts, including commission rates. Built with Hyperledger Fabric at its core, SECURUS significantly reduces the effort and cost of manual reconciliation and avoids human errors or fraud impacting regulatory compliance, reinsurance accounting and profitability.
Symbridge
Symbridge is a blockchain-based digital asset exchange for institutional and accredited investors. Built on Hyperledger Fabricโs open-source protocol, Symbridgeโs advanced technology leverages the enhanced security, immutability, and externally-verifiable state integrity of blockchain and combines it with a high-performance trading environment. The core advantages are better transparency, tighter security, greater accuracy, reduced cost and more efficient trading. Building on Hyperledger Fabric allows Symbridge to have a decentralized validation network without sacrificing performance. Learn more about our validation network powered by Hyperledger Fabric.
TradeAssets
TradeAssets is a digital platform for banks that automates the process of trade finance risk origination and distribution. It enables institutions to buy and sell bank risk assets while retaining some of the bilateral aspects of their current process. KrypC has helped TradeAssets implement a Hyperledger Fabric-based blockchain in its online portal for securing assets. The portal is now live and provides a single point of access for the sale and purchase of assets. Banks can communicate to a large ecosystem of connected institutions to efficiently match the appetite of sellers with buyers. The entire process is quick and convenient, and all communications are secured through the portal.
TradeAssets provides robust security, complete transparency, and immutable trust and consensus between all parties.
Join the conversation about solutions and applications in the financial service market with #HyperledgerFinTech this month on social channels. Or get involved with the Capital Markets or Trade Finance Special Interest Groups.
We are very excited to announce the newest Hyperledger project, Hyperledger FireFly. Contributed by Kaleido to Hyperledger Labs in June 2021, FireFly has an active and growing open source community. FireFly has now been promoted to an official Hyperledger project, and has moved into Incubation status.
What Is Hyperledger FireFly?
Hyperledger FireFly is a multi-party system for enterprise data flows. It provides a purpose-built system upon which to build decentralized blockchain applications. It solves for the layers of complexity that sit between the low level blockchain and high level business processes and user interfaces. FireFly enables developers to build blockchain apps for enterprises significantly faster by allowing them to focus on business logic instead of commodity infrastructure foundations.
When businesses are building decentralized blockchain applications, the blockchain is usually considered the most important part. But many times, when these applications are designed to work with multiple parties, companies realize that the blockchain infrastructure is just a small percentage of the overall solution needed for a robust enterprise grade, multi-party system.
Usually, far more effort goes into building out functionality that isnโt specific to a blockchain protocol, but is necessary to make the multi-party system work. Each member needs to integrate the blockchain system with their legacy systems. The multi-party system must also support off-chain activities between member organizations that arenโt suited to the blockchain, like sharing sensitive files or sending private messages.
Building out these plumbing layers becomes a major source of friction for many projects, leading to high costs and long development cycles, ultimately preventing many apps from ever getting into production.
FireFly is designed to solve this problem. It is an open source software project that creates a standardized way to build a multi-party system powered by blockchain. It has an easy-to-use REST API that provides the building blocks of any blockchain app such as pinning data and sending public or private messages and files.
FireFly also supports custom smart contracts and managing tokens, both fungible and non-fungible. It provides a robust event system with WebSocket or webhook interfaces.
The architecture is completely modular and โpluggableโ meaning nearly any part of the system can be swapped out for a different implementation; everything from the database to the blockchain itself. As the open source community around FireFly continues to grow, weโre excited to see what new plugins will be created for integration with other services.
The Journey Through Labs
Hyperledger Labs made sense as a good place for FireFly to start as it was a brand new open source project. Since entering Labs in June, many major new features have been added, including support for Hyperledger Fabric in addition to Hyperledger Besu. A major part of the time in Labs was a focus on building the open source community around FireFly. The idea of FireFly has really resonated with people, and every week more and more developers are joining the community to build apps on FireFly (such as Hyperledgerโs Giving Chain Project), to contribute to the project for Mainnet, Defi, and other use financial services cases, and to standardize decentralized app building across members of major enterprise consortia.
Whatโs Next For Hyperledger FireFly?
Now that FireFly is a Hyperledger project, we will continue adding powerful new features to the project and growing the welcoming developer community, but now with the added benefit of more visibility within the Hyperledger community. We are making rapid progress toward an official v1.0 release, which will include several highly anticipated features including support for tokens and a unified API for interacting with custom smart contracts.
How Can I Get Involved?
We welcome more contributors to get involved in the project! There are lots of places to get involved, across a wide variety of skill sets. Itโs easy to get the source code on GitHub and get started today! To get in touch with the maintainers and other developers working on FireFly, feel free to join our channel on Rocket Chat or our mailing list. We would also love for you to join our open community calls! For the most up to date schedule, as well as joining information, please check our public calendar.
Weโre excited to be on this journey and to have the Hyperledger community at work accelerating the development of FireFly. We hope youโll join us in the journey as well!
