By Sherise Tan
Beyond the hype of cryptocurrency in the mainstream media, companies are now focusing on the development of practical applications of the underlying blockchain technology. From Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft to retailers like Walmart, blockchain is now gaining traction for widespread adoption by enterprises.
While Bitcoin is the pioneer and most well-known use case of blockchain, Ethereum became the second-generation blockchain platform that introduced the concept of smart contracts. Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum realised that the underlying blockchain technology in Bitcoin could be used to create decentralised applications (DApps) that provided more than just payment facilitation.
Smart contracts digitally facilitate and verify contract negotiation and led the way by allowing developers to develop DApps on the blockchain. Aside from Bitcoin and Ethereum, several other blockchain platforms like Hyperledger Fabric, ChainCore, R3 Corda, and EOS have also since been developed. With them, enterprises have been using these platforms to apply the technology to their businesses.
Characteristics of Enterprise Blockchain Platforms
Enterprise blockchain platforms require different characteristics to successfully meet long-term business goals, vis-a-vis those for consumer applications. Here are some of those characteristics:
Confidentiality
Enterprise data often contains sensitive data that needs to be protected. Universal access to data via a public blockchain can be a cause for security concerns. Having strong privacy features such as a separate ledger or confidential transactions can help allay fears of shared data within enterprise networks.
Transparency
A suitable blockchain platform should help organisations maintain trusted, transparent networks, while not disclosing confidential information. However, transparency is also needed for streamlining work processes within the blockchain. Possessing that balance of transparency and privacy will allow businesses to safely transact and record their data.
Lower Operational and Transaction Costs
With smart contracts, blockchain platforms eliminate the need for middlemen and manual processes as transactions are auto-executed. Integrative solutions also allow for record-keeping, reducing the costs of auditing and making it easier to track all transactions. In addition, blockchain abolishes third-party intervention and verification, thus lowering transaction costs as well.
Types of Enterprise Blockchain Platforms
According to a study done by Horsesforsources.com, some of the top blockchain platforms used by enterprises do not include the Bitcoin platform. In fact, others like Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, R3 Corda, Ripple, and Quorom are some of the top enterprise platforms that are used to solve complex business problems.
Ethereum
Ethereum is one of the most mature blockchain platforms with the most applications of use cases and a burgeoning online community, namely the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA).
With the creation of smart contracts and the ability to support DApps, Ethereum is a robust and flexible platform utilised across multiple industries. Ethereum is also a public blockchain that allows all users to view and read data, which makes it more difficult for enterprises to co-opt due to confidentiality issues. Instead, it is an open-source platform geared towards B2C (business-to-consumer) projects.
Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger is a collaborative series of projects curated by Linux Foundation. Hyperledger Fabric is a contribution by IBM and Digital Asset and is widely used by enterprises venturing into blockchain. It is a ‘permissioned’ platform, where only registered users are allowed access to read and write data on the platform. It supports private transactions, private channels, and zero-knowledge proofs. This makes it highly desirable for large enterprises in terms of their security and privacy needs.
Furthermore, it is a modular architecture with plug-and-play features like membership and consensus and has incorporated smart contracts into the platform, making it customisable and practical for its use.
R3 Corda
Launched in 2016, Corda is also a ‘permissioned’ blockchain that initially focused on financial applications. Corda targeted several features that Bitcoin and Ethereum lacked, such as privacy, transactional finality, identifiable parties, scalability, developer productivity, and enterprise integration. The platform is now used by enterprises in various sectors including the government, healthcare, and supply chain.
Ripple
Ripple was founded in 2012 and is a global payment settlement system that provides services to currency exchanges, banks, and digital-asset exchanges. Its built-in currency is XRP, and is one of the top cryptocurrencies behind Bitcoin and Ethereum but is faster and more scalable in terms of transaction times. The platform has a customer base of more than 100 enterprises with more than 75 clients.
Quorum
Developed by JP Morgan, Quorum is the enterprise-based version of the Ethereum platform. Quorum is a ‘permissioned’ network that is ideal for applications requiring high speed and high-throughput processing of private transactions. The platform uses vote-based and other algorithms to process transactions quickly — over hundreds of transactions per second and is designed to evolve alongside Ethereum. The open source development allows developers free use and experimentation in wide applications of enterprise solutions.
What Platform Revain Uses
Meanwhile, Revain’s open source review platform implements Ethereum-based blockchain technology to verify and ensure legitimate and genuine feedback from its users. After reviews have been manually filtrated, part of the reviews are saved on the Ethereum blockchain with the data stored by a smart contract called Review Snapshot Storage or RSS. Reviews are saved in the RSS, with the unique user and company identifiers available for keyword searching. Individuals can check the smart contract to view if entries have been modified.
The process of Revain crowdfunding and token generation are also delivered by smart contracts based on Ethereum. Revain’s R tokens are similarly based on Ethereum and are used to incentivise users to leave quality reviews.
By using an Ethereum-based platform, it allows Revain to be a wholly transparent and decentralised public network that is immutable and incorruptible. By giving users access to verify data on the blockchain, we encourage more users to participate and be part of the Revain community.
The Revain Platform is a custom AI and blockchain-based review platform that is immutable and does not allow users to change or delete reviews. Users can earn tokens by writing and sharing high-quality reviews. The Platform encourages authentic feedback and social regulation to help companies gain popularity through an unbiased review system.
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