The Evolution of the Connected Blockchain
All of life is a series of data points. Ones and zeroes in the shape of protons and electrons. Life wants to replicate and evolve. Like a caterpillar to a butterfly, data needs a way to transform.
First, data created the human, who made the transistor, which birthed the PC and software. Then software ate the world. It multiplied to billions of humans by enhancing their productive capacity and becoming part of their lives. It did this through centralized organizations that created the technology that appealed to human psychology. Google, Apple, and Facebook are a few of these companies. They are the cocoon that data required.
Emerging from its cocoon is the blockchain. The blockchain supplants the way we store and use data, creating an extensive interconnected network that can exponentially grow and evolve. The blockchain allows humans to make digital representations of themselves, gaining sovereignty over their lives.
A problem exists. There are too many butterflies emerging. Not all will work, many will fail, and others will embed themselves into human lives in unique ways. The ones that survive will need to communicate and work together to evolve the network.
Hyperledger Cactus
Hyperledger Cactus provides the ability for blockchains to communicate. Still in its early stages of development, the project's goal is to connect the fragmentation of blockchain networks. It will create a heterogeneous system architecture that serves as a library of plugins connecting to multiple ledgers - one without a state or network of its own.
The Cactus Routing Interface
(This section and the following describe some technical aspects of the architecture and types of transactions between ledgers. Feel free to skip these two sections and continue reading the use case section on how a pharmaceutical company could transact with another organization using a different ledger.)
Data will interface with human users through the Cactus Routing Interface (CRI). The CRI is where the user defines a transaction or trade request between distributed ledgers (blockchains). The CRI connects to the business login plugin architecture, where the CRI will implement the trade request through web applications and smart contracts.
The Business Logic Plugin connects to a library of ledger-specific plugins. These plugins connect to a registry of pre-defined verifiers. Each verifier in the registry approves only successful transactions digitally signed by a validator.
Validators connect to the nodes of a ledger. They monitor the transactions on that ledger and report on the outcome of each transaction. The validators digitally sign the transactions with a "Validator key" to be verified by the verifiers.
All of this is an architecture where one or more parties can seamlessly transact between ledgers. It allows transactions between permissioned and public ledgers and supports batch transactions where possible.
The first step is for both sides of the transaction to agree on the terms. Once agreed upon, the transaction will execute through one of four interoperability types. Each interoperability type has a different level of interference possible. Interference is a disruption of a blockchain's operations and functions.
Interoperability Types
The first interoperability type is a Ledger Transfer. A ledger transfer is where an asset gets locked/burned on one blockchain, and then a representation of the same asset gets released on the other blockchain. Ledger transfer can have high interference if too many assets are locked/burned on the blockchain.
The second are atomic swaps. An atomic swap performs a write transaction on multiple blockchains where all either pass or fail. Atomic swaps have low interference potential as all assets stay in their respective blockchains and are not locked or burned.
The third are ledger interactions. A ledger interaction is where an action change on one blockchain causes an action change on another blockchain. Ledger interactions have a high potential for interference as the state of one blockchain depends on another.
The fourth and final interoperability type is a ledger entry point coordination. Ledger entry point coordination is when an end-user wallet enables read/write operations on separate ledgers from one single entry point. Ledger entry point coordination has no potential for interference because read/write transactions submitted by the client on one blockchain are forwarded to the other blockchain(s) for execution. Each blockchain operation is in isolation.
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Use Case - A pharmaceutical company's purchase of data using different ledgers
Pharmaceutical company A has been in discussions to purchase a dataset from Company B. They have both agreed to the terms, using zero-knowledge proofs to verify the quality of data, and are now ready to transact. They write the terms into a smart contract that specifies the use of the following. 1) Ledgers 2) Wallets 3) Escrow service provider 4) Price and Currency. The currency could be a stablecoin, private token, or public cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ether.
Company A places coins in a digital escrow service, and Company B places the dataset. Should both parties fulfill the terms, an atomic swap will execute the transaction between ledger(s). If the terms are not fulfilled in any part, the transaction will not run.
Design principles
Hyperledger Cactus is open-sourced, works across platforms, and will be callable. It creates an environment where anyone can develop/market plugins and run them through stringent automated test scripts for validation
Speed and scalability are paramount. Benchmarks on performance against supported ledgers (ex: Fabric, Quorum, Besu) and supported tasks (read/write Ledger, Sign Transactions, Verify transaction) will be published.
Conclusion
Hyperledger Cactus optimizes the spread of data. It seamlessly connects networks without additional noise and added friction. Hyperledger Cactus serves as a framework architecture that can be built on top of. It publishes its performance metrics to provide the network the optimal route to transact and grow.
As data manifests itself as a digital representation of humans, a symbiotic relationship occurs. Physical and digital reality begin to merge. Humans identify themselves through digital credentials and avatars. Oracles, such as Chainlink, replace trusted third parties.
The symbiotic relationship grows stronger as humans generate more data on-chain, which feeds the evolution of artificial intelligence. As AI evolves, it provides more effective health recommendations that enhance both the quality and longevity of humans.
The enhancement of human biology prepares data for its next evolutionary goal of expansion into multiple worlds. In the physical world, the earth will birth other planets and galaxies. Earth used evolution over billions of years to generate a medium to initiate a connection with other planets. Blockchain and AI are our leaps forward.
In the digital world, humans will create a metaverse. A digital replication of the physical world which humans can inhabit through virtual reality. This reality allows data to expand ad infinitum through artificial intelligence generation of new worlds. Many worlds will be created. Some of which will mirror our reality and physical laws, and others will be completely different.
In the end, though, there is just one world. The world within the world that creates worlds. And we are just one version. One version that has developed blockchains through billions of years of evolution to begin to understand its creation.
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Great job Mike! I am learning a lot from these posts, thanks for sharing.