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HyperLedger Sawtooth – ernesto.net

After the success of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as defined by ernesto.net, the attention fell on blockchain technology. The technology was slowly proving to be very important and according to some, it is defined as the best thing that has happened since the internet revolution. However, just like any technology, it is not stationary but continues to evolve and to be refined. Along the way, something known as Hyperledger Sawtooth was born.

The development of Hyperledger Sawtooth

Hyperledger Sawtooth is the latest edition from the Hyperledger community, the creators of Hyperledger Fabric. The project began at Intel Labs in 2014 through a research project known then as Sawtooth Lake.

The project wanted to address security and scalability issues affecting the then growing adoption of Bitcoin. It also wanted to find ways to migrate blockchain technology to the enterprise. In 2016, a milestone was achieved when the Proof of Elapsed Time consensus algorithm was delivered as a free and safe alternative to Bitcoin’s Proof of work consensus algorithm.

Intel then made Sawtooth available to Hyperledger Training, which was just getting started at around that time. The Hyperledger community grew significantly and several organizations such as Amazon Web Services, Wind River, Ericsson, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft Azure, Bitwise.io, Cloudsofts, Context Labs, Active Ticketing, Dot BC Media, and Hacera joined the ship.

What is Hyperledger Sawtooth

Hyperledger Sawtooth is a modular enterprise distributed ledger used to build, deploy, and run enterprise blockchain apps and networks. It was wholly designed to keep enterprise blockchains as decentralized as possible while improving the safety of smart contracts.

Sawtooth distinguishes itself from traditional blockchains in the sense that it is highly modular. This gives companies the opportunity to make customized policies that are tailor-made for the specific enterprise.

Another major advantage of Sawtooth is that its core system is differentiated from the application domain. Moreover, it is flexible and uses the principles of a black box. It is not rigid on the language that developers can use to develop applications and can easily formulate rules that are specific to the business needs. Moreover,  the developers can create applications without knowing how the core system was designed.

Hyperledger Sawtooth has the following key features:

Dynamic consensus

Ethereum support

On-chain governance

An advanced engine for transaction execution

Multiple language support

Dynamic Consensus

Different blockchain platforms use different but fixed consensus algorithms. Bitcoin uses the proof-of-work system. The network users compete to solve a particular cryptographic problem. Whoever solves the problem is rewarded with Bitcoins.

Another consensus algorithm used is the proof-of-stake. It is based on the proof of ownership. Another consensus algorithm used is the proof-of-elapsed-time.

What makes Hyperledger Sawtooth so special is that it is not hardwired to use only one consensus algorithm. It can use any system and interchange between them. Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages. Hyperledger Sawtooth users can choose a consensus algorithm that is good for their specific needs.

Smart contracts

Smart contracts are small programs that execute business logic. Their functions are similar to that of a computer. They accept an input, process and execute it, and give out an output. They live on a layer of the blockchain where use cases that are specific to the particular business case are required.

Although Bitcoin is largely responsible for the limited use of smart contracts, it is Ethereum that pioneered their use. The smart contracts that are included in Sawtooth are:

Settings – provides a platform for the storage of configuration settings

Identity – deals with the permissions on the blockchain

Validator registry – registers ledger validators and components important for the security of Proof-of-elapsed time.

On-chain governance

The ‘settings’ option makes on-chain governance possible on Hyperledger Sawtooth blockchain. This allows users to store on-chain configuration settings such as the consensus algorithm used.

Multiple language support

Developers can build smart contracts using several languages including Python, Javascript, C++, Rust, and Go.

Advanced engine for transaction execution

Parallel processing of transactions in order to speed up the creation and validation of blocks

What Hyperledger Sawtooth represents

Hyperledger Sawtooth is an enterprise blockchain platform designed based on the basics of existing platforms such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It also added more functionality, modularity, flexibility, and scalability. It allows developers to work in a number of programming languages. Most importantly, it supports several types of consensus algorithms.

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Blockchain And Government Use Cases

Ever since blockchain technology branched from being the technology that underpins Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the disruptive technology has found many uses outside the financial sector. Further research into the technology has shown that it can be used by governments to reduce inefficiencies and increase productivity. This article looks at various ways that blockchain technology can be used by governments.

Areas where blockchain technology can be used by governments

Listed below are the various use cases of blockchain technology by governments:

Healthcare

The healthcare industry has been known to be rigid to change. And this is so because of the number of stakeholders involved in the industry. From patients to insurance companies, none of them is willing to share data with others.

As a result, patient data has been recorded manually leading to redundancies, inefficiencies, and unnecessary stationary costs.

However, blockchain allows the digitization of patient data. This allows governments, through health care institutions, to record and collect patient data from several sources such as wearable devices. Governments are then better able to deliver customized and better care.

Most importantly, public healthcare institutions do not have to worry about duplicating patient data. With blockchain, patient data is entered in records and cannot be altered or duplicated.

Many countries, particularly those in developing countries, are the victims of counterfeit drugs. Blockchain technology can reduce or eliminate fake drugs by tracking drugs from the point of manufacture, ingredients used, and the transport used to get them to their final destination.

According to Reuters, fake drugs account for $30 billion in trade per year.

Elections

Free, fair, and credible elections are the cornerstone of any democratic society. However, many countries are still living in the times of stolen and rigged elections. This is mainly rampant in developing nations. This trend has also been seen in developed nations such as the U.S.

America’s 2016 elections were never short of drama and it is believed that some people voted several times in different states. In 2000, the U.S. elections were dogged by miscounting.

Blockchain technology can be used to track voters and the votes. This eliminates the potential for fraud and presents transparent results that are satisfactory to all participants.

Supply chain and procurement

Transactions between governments and citizens rely on the trust between the two parties. The majority of these transactions are based on manual processes that are prone to errors.

Blockchain has the potential to change all that. The new technology increases transparency and adds security and efficiency to transactions. All the transactions from the development or manufacturing to the final stages are recorded and tracked on the blockchain.

Tender Bids

Blockchain technology and smart contracts can be used to reduce fraud in the tendering process. Smart contracts can be used to level the ground for all tender competitors by:

●     providing them with the same amount of information

●     Automating the opening, reviewing, analysis of tendered bids, and closing the bid.

Smart contracts remove the need for third parties who control the bidding process. There are fewer risks involved during the bidding process.

Food safety

Food security and safety are a major role of any government. Dubai is one nation that wants to utilize blockchain technology and the internet of things to track and monitor food products from the farm to the store. This data has to be easily accessible to consumers so that they can have an idea of the kind of food they will be eating. This reduces cases of food poisoning.

tracking food from farm to store using blockchain technology.

Data management

A government is entitled to the role of monitoring and managing national data for individuals, companies, organizations, etc at various levels such as provincial or regional. Some of this information includes motor vehicle registration, names of citizens and their social security numbers, criminal activities, business licensing, etc.

Managing all this data is a complex process and some of this data is stored in paper format. This makes it difficult for governmental departments to share and link this data together. For example, it is difficult to link people’s driving and health records together.

Moreover, it is difficult to make this data available across several departments without compromising its security.

Blockchain technology can effectively solve this dilemma. It simplifies how governments record, store, and distribute data among its departments. At the same time, it allows government agencies to do this without compromising security.

What are governments doing?

Some governments are already utilizing blockchain to manage and store its data. Those that have not yet made full use of blockchain technology are already considering using it one way or the other.

Switzerland

Switzerland is trying to have a ‘Silicon Valley’ geared for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. It is known as ‘Crypto Valley.’ The country has relaxed the regulation of cryptocurrencies and thus attracting huge foreign investments in the traditionally neutral country.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom unveiled its plans in 2016 to use blockchain technology to reduce inefficiencies and fraud.

Bahrain

The Kingdom which has set its sights on becoming the Crypto Valley of the Middle East has made plans to use blockchain technology to store motor vehicle data.

What is the way forward

According to research and rate of adoption, it can suffice to say that blockchain is the technology of tomorrow. Many governments and private organizations are finding ways of leveraging the disruptive technology.

It has already been established that blockchain technology’s reach will be as wide as that of the internet. If this true, then any government or organization that uses the internet must migrate to the blockchain.