We have joined Hyperledger!
We are pleased to announce our decision to join the Linux Foundation’s fastest growing open source project to date, Hyperledger. Check out the full press release here!
Hyperledger is an “umbrella for software developer communities building open source blockchain and related technologies.”
At MetaX, our aspirations as a company, and our mission to bring blockchain technology to the forefront of digital advertising through open source standards draws parallels with Hyperledger’s three main principles.
1. Open, transparent governance of the software development process for blockchain technologies matters
2. Intellectual property provenance and safeguards of the software matters
3. Key use cases are driving permissioned or “consortium” chain, models
Through Hyperledger’s various steering committees and working groups, MetaX will continue to add to the conversation by driving the technical development of blockchain applications and from learning from other Hyperledger members.
While our focus until now has been on building decentralized applications on the public Ethereum blockchain, permissioned blockchains like Hyperledger Fabric and Hyperledger Sawtooth offer solutions to the scalability bottlenecks faced by public blockchains by utilizing alternative consensus algorithms to proof-of-work.
Public blockchains trade in scalability and speed in exchange for security. In a public blockchain nodes do not know or trust one another, and so security is of paramount importance. Proof-of-work gives public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum a viable consensus mechanism that works under those natively trustless conditions and prevents malicious attackers from wreaking havoc on the network.
But there are many instances where applying blockchain technology amongst a set of known validators also makes sense. In those cases, using a consensus algorithm more focused on the desired outcomes such as scalability and speed can offer a better alternative. Consortium blockchains between a collaborative group of businesses or common enterprises can extract the key benefits of blockchain technology while circumventing many of the limiting factors associated with public chains. And that is why we are so excited about working with Hyperledger!
As we move forward into the beginning phases of 2018, we can look back on 2017 as the year that the blockchain gained mass awareness. But there are still many miles left to go before we achieve mass adoption. It is still far too early in the game to decide on any one particular blockchain implementation as the “right” choice for every circumstance. Joining Hyperledger ensures we are well positioned to take advantage of the exciting technological innovations brought forth by The Linux Foundation and provides us with yet another strong foothold amidst the shifting sands of this radical new tech.
