Exploring the CyberMiles ecosystem: Blockchain for authentication
Searching for the perfect oracle amid the authentication dilemma, a #CMusecase
Blockchain technology is no longer for upstarts. Now the big fish are jumping into the pond, and one of the most interesting solutions for businesses seems to be Oracle. (Note: blockchain oracles are not to be confused — and are in no way affiliated — with Oracle, the company.)
Smart Contracts’ Little Helpers
An oracle is typically a smart contract that makes external data (i.e. off-chain, real-world, or cross-chain) deterministically available on the blockchain. It provides a single source of truth for off-chain states, and hence allows blockchain nodes to reach consensus.
The traditional oracle is highly centralized and goes against the spirit of the decentralized blockchain. A delivery service oracle that provides delivery status of packages might be established by FedEx, for example. A weather oracle might be established by a weather station. In order to use those oracles, blockchain users and decentralized apps (‘DApps’) must trust the entities behind those oracles.
A second approach for oracles is to create a community-based cryptoeconomic game for members of the community to compete and provide the truth in a smart contract. Examples of such oracles include the BTC Relay to provide information about the Bitcoin blockchain, and the Ethereum Alarm Clock to provide time.
Oracles, in the blockchain sense, also can be a link between the physical universe and the virtual reality of blockchain platforms — an essential part of the promise of smart contracts. Essential, in the sense, for the realization of the blockchain-based sharing economy.
Trust Machine
The whole idea of a blockchain, versus a conventional database, is trust. While a database can be easily hacked — and changed — that’s not the case with a (sufficiently decentralized) blockchain. It’s the genius of a blockchain: no single point of failure. Plus, the database is accessible for everyone. If you’re not familiar with LVMH, I’m sure you’re familiar with some of their by-products and brands: Belvedere, Bulgari, Christian Dior, Dom Pérignon, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Sephora. Chances are if you (or yours) owns a designer purse or a uses high-end perfumes and cosmetics, you are a target consumer. But the real question is, Can you verify if the luxury goods on hand are real?
The amount of counterfeit items is innumerable, meaning no one has ever been able to eliminate the counterfeit issue…yet. In fact, when I dig deeper, counterfeit designer goods are big business. We’re talking billions of dollars. Let’s take a closer look at why and how blockchain technology has a solution to counterfeit across multiple industries.
Continuing with LVMH as an example, it turns out the luxury goods conglomerate is an active investor, too, particularly in technology startups. Just last spring, LVMH led a $60 million funding round for Lyst, a luxury e-commerce platform in search of a killer app. Which begs the question, What’s the perfect crypto killer app? Lots of projects think they’ve got it nailed down but let’s face it: Crypto’s killer app still is missing in action. As the search continues, however, blockchain technology can help solve a lot of the ongoing problems today. Benefits that can be applied to consumer confidence and brand protection are tantalizing. If you’re a luxury goods maker like LVMH, your brands and the authenticity of your products are the most crucial elements of your business. As mentioned, they lose significant revenue from counterfeit goods.
By leveraging decentralized technology, makers/manufacturers galore have an opportunity to connect and guarantee the authenticity of their products directly to their customers, while also using a powerful marketing touch point to tell a brand or product story and to gather useful data. Think about it: Customers who download an official app could scan their cosmetics to verify the authenticity, as well as to learn about the product story and lifecycle or even for marketing content. It’s not simply “storing stuff on a blockchain vs. storing stuff in a database,” it can be a much more immersive, persuasive experience. These benefits can’t be realized through traditional methods.
Product Authenticity in the Age of Blockchain
There are companies today that aim to authenticate products by identifying (or, rather, exposing) counterfeits, data fraud, and data manipulation through the consistent monitoring of each step of both the supply chain process and a product’s lifecycle. (Case in point: The Anti-Counterfeiting Group, a UK-based trade body whose members include Burberry, Hermès, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors.)
A prime example would be to empower legal entities to provide guidance, assurance, and services for members on a platform. You could use a platform which also resolves the question that everyone one day may have to consider: How would your loved ones and/or partners gain proper access to your digital legacy when you’re gone?
To that end there could be four different offerings:
- The Family Circle Plan. This is for those who want defined members of their inheritance to access their assets on the day of their passing.
- The Business Continuity Plan. This allows companies to distribute authority, ownership, and assets in programmable smart contracts to be executed on a set event, outcome, or procedure.
- Investment Circles. This is for those managing grouped funds to operate on their own defined terms and procedures.
- Vault. Beyond securing your digital assets (private keys/seeds/passwords, Google, documents, etc.) on the blockchain, this enables you to distribute the necessary data to designated individuals under the terms you set.
In conclusion, I’ve highlighted a few specific use cases on how this technology could improve certain sectors of consumer markets, but the things outlined apply to a variety of other product areas. These include everything from automobiles and temperature-controlled supply chains, to the end-to-end production process of medical devices, liquors, and the aforementioned luxury product authenticity. That’s right, companies outside of finance are using blockchain technology to replace long-held authentication practices in law, real estate, shipping and more.
The CyberMiles Solution
The time is now and public blockchains let consumers, like you and me, access a product’s lifecycle data to ensure it’s not some cheap, flimsy counterfeit. CyberMiles, a public blockchain protocol designed and optimized for commercial applications, is harnessing the power of oracles as a critical part of the technological stack required for a wide variety of DApps.
With Lity, CyberMiles’ programming language, we’re taking a distinct approach to creating trusted smart contracts, making oracles first-class citizens on the CyberMiles blockchain. On the CyberMiles blockchain, the DPoS validators (supernodes) are trusted entities who must stake a large amount of tokens from own account and from their supporters/community. Those tokens are subject to slashing and confiscation if the validator misbehaves. So, if a smart contract can be updated only by current validators, data from this contract should have a high level of trust on the CyberMiles blockchain.
If you have use cases (e.g. DApps and side chain ideas) for the CyberMiles blockchain, please email business@cybermiles.io for collaboration/ investment opportunities.
