The branches of opportunity for developers building with Trokt
Many enthusiasts routinely claim that blockchain can do everything from replacing central banks to curing cancer. Technologically speaking, it can’t.
Blockchain is uniquely capable of performing one simple yet vitally important task: validating distributed truth.
Instead of the standard “third party validation” that is often used as evidence during contentious matters, blockchain enables “n-party validation.” Instead of having one notary confirm that she or he has seen the sensitive information presented to her or him, blockchain can enlist a nearly unlimited number of entities to relatively instantaneously validate that a shared truth, no matter where it is saved, is valid.
In legally sensitive matters, knowing who shared, received, and validated a piece of data — the context of the data, often considered “metadata” — is often more valuable than knowing the actual data itself. Trokt’s neopublic blockchain is a patent-pending architectural innovation that removes the contextual vulnerabilities inherent in traditional, public blockchain solutions. In short, Trokt’s neopublic blockchain allows for “n-party validation” without displaying the context associated with sensitive data.
This is extremely powerful, but it is not magic. Trokt’s noepublic blockchain is only as effective as the appropriateness of its use cases. Just a few of the many effective uses of Trokt’s neopublic architecture include the following examples:
Local Government
Many local governments operate like small, family businesses. Most elected officials in local government are neither seasoned executives nor professional politicians. They are everyday citizens trying to contribute to their communities. Similarly, many of these local governments do not have refined document management tools or processes. Important files are often approved, physically signed, scanned, and then held on multiple laptops, external drives, or commercial cloud services.
When everything is fine, these processes get the job done. When there is a problem, it becomes very costly to figure out what happened. For example, if four different people have eight different versions of an important file saved in twenty different places, which one is real?
By adding a web portal where local officials can “thumbprint” any file as soon as it is scanned, the Trokt neopublic blockchain can later validate any file’s thumbprint no mater where the file ends up being stored, how many copies of it are made, or how it is renamed. By storing these thumbprints in its distributed network without changing how communities store the actual document, Trokt adds a layer of fraud protection that costs a tiny fraction of traditional solutions.
Truck Transmissions
Truck transmissions are often made up of many different parts from many different, competing suppliers. Since the transmission is a key component affecting everything from fuel economy to tailpipe emissions, all these different parts from these competing suppliers must work in unison. However, while all these parts must work in unison, each still produce proprietary datasets that the supplier does not want shared with the other suppliers in that same transmission.
When everything is fine, everyone gets to keep their data private. When there is a problem, it can become very costly to prove your data is accurate. For example, if a vehicle starts to fail emissions tests, how will one supplier prove that the data the government requests is valid without sharing all of the contextual data it wanted to keep private?
By adding a process where sensor data is pulled at various intervals and thumbprinted, the Trokt neopublic blockchain can validate any data interval provided to regulators. By storing these thumbprints in a distributed network, suppliers can reduce the cost of proving regulatory compliance without the risk of giving away design secrets to their competitors.
Trade Secrets
In the intellectual property world, it is costly to publicly protect inventions. For many startups, protecting intellectual property is done through secrecy. So long as no one knows the secret formula, it can be protected — and the company retains its value.
When these secrets are kept, these startups will often thrive. When a secret is stolen, the secrecy that once protected it makes its theft difficult to prove. For example, if a genetic detection company never told anyone the secret of how they can achieve better results for a lower cost, how would they publicly prove a secret that no one else knows if a former employee tries to patent their secret invention?
By thumbprinting all secret theories, designs, and results, the Trokt neopublic blockchain proves a secret exists without ever telling anyone what the secret is or who knows it. By storing these thumbprints in a distributed network, inventors can instantly prove that a secret no one has ever seen has existed unaltered since the time it was protected with Trokt.
Music Copyrights
Many of our most popular songs owe much of their success to a unique hook. While a perfect combination of beats can now come from nearly anywhere, it must be shared for it to catch on. When an aspiring artist starts shopping their music to agents or collaborators, especially when it could be the basis for a multi-platinum hit, she or he will rarely have the resources to protect it from theft.
When everyone plays by the rules, the aspiring artist becomes a star. When a superstar claims your creation is theirs, it becomes expensive to prove what is your property. For example, if a multi-platinum artist stole your hook and then claimed they had created it, how would the average artist prove she or her created it first?
By using a portal like Blockchain Certified Email, the Trokt neopublic blockchain can validate that a specific music file existed and has remained unaltered since the time it was certified. By storing the music file’s digital thumbprint in a distributed network, an artist can instantly prove ownership of that file she or he shared with a superstar — the hook that propelled their next album up the charts.
Medical Advocates
Many hospitals are expanding their use of digital medical records and files. However, these files are rarely centrally stored or universally shared across all hospitals. Patients with long medical histories or many hospital interactions may often be provided with a medical records portal where they or their family members can access important files.
When medical care is progressing as expected, everyone can trust that everything which should be in the digital records portal will remain accessible to everyone. When there is a costly mistake, these hospital-provided and managed portals may no longer be the permanent repositories as originally claimed. For example, if a doctor documents an error that will cost her or his medical license, can everyone trust that the file will remain in the medical records portal?
By downloading medical records and capturing their thumbprint, the Trokt neopublic blockchain can validate that a document existed in the past even if its original is deleted. By storing these thumbprints in a distributed network, medical advocates can prove that a file which proves medical malpractice has not been altered since its thumbprint was stored — evidence that remains even if it is purged from the digital records portal.
To learn more about Trokt Blockchain Certified Email and the neopublic architecture it is built upon, please visit www.ecert.email . Have any ideas on how you could use the Trokt neopublic blockchain network? Drop us a note at blockchain@trokt.org and we may sponsor your idea with $10,000 of Trokt network credit!
